In celebration of our country’s 250th anniversary, Oswegoland Park District rolled out its Oswego 250 Wheels on Parade event.
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The free event on Friday encouraged kids and their families to bring bikes, scooters and strollers to Prairie Point Park in Oswego, where a decorating station provided by the park district was set up under a pavilion so kids could make their bikes look like a float.
Oswego resident Dana Wixted brought her daughter Lily, 3, to the parade.
“This is the first time we’ve heard about this. I like the idea of kids decorating their bikes and we’re going to hit the splash pad later,” Wixted said as she added colorful streamers to a covered stroller she had brought. “We’re ready for a parade ride and this all sounds awesome.”
Participants were encouraged to begin arriving to deck out their wheels beginning at 10 a.m. with the parade kicking off at 11 a.m. along the Prairie Point trail before ending at the splash pad area right across from the pavilion.
Isabella Mahoney, recreation supervisor of special events for the park district, said the wheels event has been held before at various intervals and that this year’s version had to be enhanced due to the 250th anniversary of the United States.
“This hasn’t been a consecutive thing, we do it as a pop-up,” she said. “If we were to see 250 sets of wheels that would be amazing. We’ll have some red-white-and-blue decorations for the bikes and other wheels.”
As a family event, Mahoney said “given the historical weekend … we’re just looking for something for all ages to get together and make memories and make this Fourth of July weekend a little more special than others.”
Four different categories of awards were given out including an overall best decorated bike, most patriotic, most creative and the best rider/bike combination.
Popsicles were given to everyone at the end of the parade route.
Lily Wixted readily expressed her enthusiasm when her mother Dana asked about the ride.
“Yes, I’m ready!” Lily shouted after her mother asked is she was excited. “I also want to go to the splash pad.”
Dana Wixted said there was no rhyme or reason to her decorating strategy, something that other parents like Ashley Ackerman of Oswego, who came with her son Barrett, 3, talked about.
“My son has a balance bike and when I told him we were going to do this he was excited,” Ackerman said. “This is a fun way to get out and decorate and see other kids. We’re just putting stuff on the bike. The decorating really makes this – it’s more fun than just having bikes go out. Barrett is definitely enjoying the decorating.”
Jen McGuire of Glenview said she came out to be with her in-laws for the weekend and was also watching her kids decorate their bikes.
“It’s fun to get all the kids together and I realized things have been ramped up because it’s our country’s 250th anniversary, but I think we should do this every year,” she said.
Bill Kramarczyk of Oswego brought his three children to the parade and said his decorating strategy was “about getting out of the house and celebrating the Fourth of July and have some fun.”
“I brought all three of my kids,” he said. “As far as keeping up when they ride we’ll just have to see how it goes.”
Kramarczyk’s oldest daughter Kayla, 10, had her bike decorated with streamers wrapped around the frame.
“I didn’t have a plan. I just put stuff on,” she said.
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
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