Peachtree City's annual July 4th Parade will be a little more exclusive this year.

No entries from outside Fayette County will be accepted this year, except for those invited by parade organizers "if we feel they will enhance the parade's overall patriotic or aesthetic appeal," said Randy Gaddo, director of the city's leisure services division.

Also new this year, parade entries from Fayette County residents, civic groups and churches outside of Peachtree City will be charged a $25 fee, and commercial businesses outside the city will be assessed a $50 fee.

While Peachtree City entries will not be charged, a fee has been put in place for non-city entries to offset staff and administrative expenses for putting on the parade, organizers said.

Another factor in the decision was a wish to make the parade "a local hometown patriotic celebration" instead of over commercialized due to the numerous businesses that used the parade as a promotion tool.

"The event originally started out as a golf cart parade, but over the years larger and larger entries were allowed," Gaddo said. "It went too far when large 18-wheelers were allowed in with minimum, if any, patriotic decorations. It started to be more an opportunity to market a business rather than to celebrate our nation's independence and the birth of democracy here."

Safety considerations also factored in to the decisions to change the makeup of the parade in terms of the entries' size, Gaddo added.

Peachtree City entries will get a one-week head start on registration from June 1-7. Registration for all other Fayette County entries will begin June 8.