When my husband and I first looked at a house in our neighborhood fourteen years ago, it wasn’t the actual house that convinced us to make an offer. It was the sense of community, embodied in events like this…
On Independence Day, every kid in the neighborhood, plus lots of grandchildren on vacation, gather at the beach for the annual Fourth of July Bike Parade. It’s serious business, led by a fire truck blaring “Stars and Stripes Forever” through the bullhorn.
Kids are inducted in to the festivities at a very young age.
And this part always cracks me up… Neighbors without kids come outside with their morning coffee, line the parade route with lawn chairs, wave, and applaud when the kids ride by. 
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has posted a full list of bloggers posting pictures of their home towns this week, so stop by her blog for more flags & fireworks.
Wherever you are, I hope your Independence Day was full of parades and sparklers, too!
Fabulous! Thanks for sharing!
Of COURSE all the people come out to watch…what good is a parade without an audience???
😀 Love how the van in the first picture does so well with keeping with the color scheme of the day.
Thanks for sharing and being a part of Cindy’s challenge.
I love this post…one of my favorites!
Mona
Wonderful pics, one and all, but I love the single red balloon floating away, especially with that shaft of light!
What an excellent tradition! May your neighborhood always have enough kids for a parade.
I know what you mean about neighborhoods–three or four of us bought houses in the village at the same time and had kids. That started the sense of neighborliness and new arrivals have seemed to fit right in.
What fantastic 4th of July photos!!
I love it! WE have something similar here in CO — but it’s in Aspen, which is about 4 hours from here…we went a couple of years ago, and it was so fun to be a part of that kind of celebration 🙂