BATON ROUGE: With the 40th annual Wearin’ of the Green Parade just a few days away, people who live along the parade route are preparing their streets for an influx of parade-goers.

They call it their favorite time of year and always love seeing the parade go by.

The parade starts in the Hundred Oaks neighborhood, where residents have always prided themselves on being the starting point for the parade - especially since there was a time when the route was nearly moved to Broussard Street.

In 1995, one homeowner was able to convince former Metro Councilwoman Mary Fry Eaton not to agree on the parade’s path.

Parade enthusiasts Donna and Rene Esnard organized a petition that gathered 1,000 signatures in a day to protest the councilwoman's plan.

The council decided to go back to Hundred Oaks, where it starts to this day.

"It's a neat parade. It's family-friendly. It's a good time. A lot of families ride together in the parade,” said Katie Bodin, who lives on the parade route.

After starting at Hundred Oaks, floats turn onto South Eugene before going down Terrace Avenue and finally Perkins Road.

Terrace Avenue has arguably the most unique situation for the parade as it has a large median in the middle that splits the road in two, much like the Mardi Gras Parades along St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans.

“The parade rolls on the other side of the boulevard, so we have all this space here. The kids ride their bikes and their scooters, and we have all our friends come over. We have mimosas - green mimosas - and just have a great time,” Terrace resident Erin Vincent said.

For the right side of the street, residents told WBRZ about how many of the houses put rope around their yards to keep people off it.

"Friday night, we try to rope off our yards because we have a family party. We try to rope it off enough to where we don't get much traffic through because people walk the parade route,” Bodin said.

Houses on the left tend to do this as well as many of them decide to throw parties for friends and family. Throughout the area, there are traffic and metal barricades stacked on corners that will be lined up for safety.

Residents told WBRZ that if someone plans to go, they should get there early and expect to be there for a while. Residents on the right side of the street added they even tend to be stuck at their own houses because of how many people there are.

"Our son has a game out of town that we're missing because we can't leave and our daughter's gonna be out of town doing something for ballet, so we can't go to that either,” Bodin said.

The median provides a great vantage point to watch the parade and catch throws from floats.