Not an expert, but what I noticed last year is that it was better to be at the front of the parade route. I was towards the front last year and when the parade ended in our area, the crowd started to walk to thier cars. This was not a problem unless you had to cross the back end of the parade route. Thus, the people at the front of the parade wanted to go home, and the people at the back of the parade was still trying to watch the parade.