I … Love a Parade!

Every year, my inlaws’ next-door neighbor in Pittsburg, Kansas, holds a Fourth of July Parade.

As a former journalist and veteran of numerous parades, I am here to tell you that this is, for certain, the Country’s Best Fourth of July Parade.

So, this year, I am turning my journalistic eye on the events (having been prevented from doing so the last few years by the necessity of toting at least one child throughout the parade.)

Why is it the country’s best? Think about parades. Who likes them? Kids! Who wants to be in them? Kids! This parade is open to any neighborhood kids who want to participate, anyone who has a connection with the neighborhood, and even their friends. It has a history of going on 30 years, and as I understand hasn’t changed in many respects other than the size of the parade. These days, kids of the original parade participants march, or are sometimes carried by, their parents. Afterwards, we all get together for lemonade and cookies, and to sing “Happy Birthday” to America.

It’s something kids can understand, it’s never above their level, and it isn’t controlled too much by adults. Janeil (my inlaws’ neighbor) provides milk and cookies and starts the parade with a little speech. She leads the singing of “Happy Birthday America.” Then the kids roll out on their bicycles, tricycles, scooters, wagons, strollers or parents’ shoulders. Everyone is dressed in Fourth of July Parade gear. Part of the excitement of the day is decorating your wheels, so there are streamers, pinwheels, and crepe paper festooning the bikes and strollers. The parade route is manageable enough for the very young, yet long enough that middle school children feel like they’ve been somewhere.

It is, truly, parade perfection.

You don’t have to be a beauty queen, play an instrument, twirl a baton, build a float, do karate or ballet, or pay a fee. You only have to be a person who is really grateful to be living in America, and still a little bit proud of our country, which, despite everything, is still persistently and collectively trying to do its best.

Sound fun? It’s today. So hopefully by tomorrow I will have some photos to show you.