Everybody loves a parade.
Well, I don’t actually know this to be true, but how many people have you met who actually profess to be staunchly anti-parade? That makes the first sentence true enough.
Parades come in all shapes and sizes – the big Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade in New York City, last weekend’s Pride Parade in Chicago and the Naperville St. Patrick’s Day, Memorial Day and Last Fling Labor Day Parades are just a few that come to mind.
Closer to home – to my home, that is – we also have a parade tradition we take part in, the Wil-O-Way Homeowners Association July 4 Parade, held every year on July 4 because doing it any other day would make the name kind of silly.
It’s a modest endeavor, with a route of only two blocks, no multi-million dollar budgets and mainly just kids on bikes, but it’s a tradition that many in our neighborhood wouldn’t miss.
“Just thinking of Independence Day as a whole, we’re celebrating a sense of community of the United States,” says Wil-O-Way resident Diana Williams, who has organized the neighborhood parade for five years now. “So it’s nice to be able to break that down by city or town, but then a subdivision can also come together and celebrate as well. And we don’t get to do that that often, other than with our annual block party.
“It’s something joyful for the kids and for the adults. It’s just a fun way to celebrate on a smaller scale.”
The parade dates to roughly 1997, five years before my wife and I moved into the neighborhood. We didn’t have children yet, but we’ve been participating in the parade nearly every year since. This year we even rearranged a trip out of town in part to ensure that we’d be here on July 4. Not entirely for the parade alone – there’s also Ribfest, the obligatory fireworks and maybe a family cookout – but the parade was certainly part of it.
By this point, it wouldn’t seem like July 4 morning without sleeping in, making coffee and heading to the park about 9:30 where our three kids and their friends will decorate their bikes with streamers and their bodies with temporary tattoos. A half-hour later, the parade will step off, roughly 125 strong, Williams estimates. We’ll follow the Naperville fire truck that shows up every year to lead, barring more pressing matters. Most on bikes, some in wagons, dogs on leashes and the rest of us walking upright, we’ll head south on Birchwood, east on Stonegate, north on Cottonwood and curve back around to Birchwood.
Residents from some of the 65 houses on the route will be situated in the parkways, with lawn chairs and loved ones, cheering marchers as we stroll by. Within 15 minutes, the whole thing will be done. Planning isn’t elaborate, but there is still some work that goes into getting 125 people to walk two blocks.
“I have to do my due diligence as far as getting a permit and making sure that it is to the city at least two months before the parade,” Williams says. “And then invite the Fire Department to come and lead the parade for us, which they’ve been so gracious to do for at least the last five years now.
“Then we order fun things like supplies for decorating bikes and wagons – streamers, little decorations, pinwheels, we usually get some kind of 4th of July necklaces for the kids to wear. And the temporary tattoos, I would not want to forget that. In addition to the colored hair spray, which is oh so fun if it rains.”
Yes, you do have to expect the unexpected, even in a small neighborhood parade.
“My little joke is telling everyone to follow the banner at the front of the parade, not the fire truck,” says Williams, a mother of two who’s been participating in the parade for 11 years now, “because if they get called (to an emergency) we don’t want everybody following them.”
It may seem humble, and it is, not unlike other Naperville neighborhood parades that will be held that same morning. Former Mayor George Pradel was a frequent participant for many years, as have been some city councilmen, spreading themselves as equitably as possible across numerous city and subdivision events.
More Top Picks Best Tablets For Autistic Adults
Afterward the kids will enjoy ice pops, play tag and come home so hot and messy that July 4 showers are the next order of business. Then our family will watch the annual Nathan’s International Hot Dog Eating Contest on ESPN because what better way to celebrate freedom than by watching people gorge themselves on as much processed meat as humanly possible?
Call it tradition. And it all starts with the parade.
“I like seeing the joy and seeing the children get so excited about decorating their bikes and riding along the parade route and being cheered on by neighbors they may know,” Williams says. “That may be the most rewarding thing, seeing them doing something that they might not normally be able to do if they’re not in other parades.
“Sometimes the things that are so simple are the most rewarding, and I think the parade really exemplifies that.”
Twitter: @RobManker
Rob Manker is a freelance writer who lives, works and parents in Naperville.