Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Fourth of July Parade

No one can remember when the first Fourth of July Burns Park Neighborhood parade took place. The flyers were stapled to telephone poles throughout the neighborhood this year, again by a few informal volunteers, who also drove the one and only car leading the parade. We walked up the parade route, a few blocks from home, and met it coming down Olivia Street.

"Don't let it touch the ground!" said the mother (above) to the baby trying to wave a flag.




The most recent parade I attended before today was around 28 years ago. Evelyn and her friend Becky had a float on a red wagon. Our dog Dolly won a prize that year for wearing a patriotic bandana. The dog in the photo above looks a little like Dolly. Nobody was awarding prizes this year, but watermelon was served to all at Burns Park, the end of the parade route.




Houses along the route -- and all over the neighborhood -- were ready for the Fourth.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

We remember the beginning. We lived on Minerva and my wife and a neighbor next door decided that it would be a great idea to have a 4th of July parade for the kids. They put up flyers on poles and called the police department who agreed to send a car for an escort. The first year there were about 10 families, and then it took off. Our various children decorated their bikes, then and now