‘The highlight of summer’
By ROSE NEMUNAITIS - editorial@nwherald.com
|
| Johnna Casello of Algonquin and her children Shaylan, 2, McKenna, 7 and Nolan, 5, watch Sunday from Dole Avenue as the Crystal Lake Independence Parade passes by. Filming the parade for the family was dad, Jimi Casello (not pictured). (Lauren M. Anderson – landerson@nwherald.com) |
CRYSTAL LAKE – Dave Christensen and his patriotic clad-family reunion members gathered early Sunday afternoon in front of a towering maple tree between Main Beach and Lakeside Legacy Festival grounds.
“It’s tradition and the highlight of summer,” Christensen said, of the Crystal Lake Independence Day Parade. “The Fourth of July weekend is our weekend to celebrate, and there’s no better way to do it than with family and friends.”
The 23rd annual parade kicked off at City Hall on Woodstock Street, traveling south on Dole Avenue, to its end near the festival grounds.
Ninety-five entrants participated in the more than 2-hour parade filled with community groups, marching bands, and perennial favorites such as the Precision Lawn Chair Dads and Jessie White Tumblers.
Sirens blared and red, white, and blue lights flashed under sunny skies as more than 10,000 parade-goers lined the route with chairs and blankets.
Emily Christensen, 9, jumped up and down beside her dad, Dave, as sounds grew nearer.
“It’s here, it’s here,” Emily Christensen said, amid lines of parade-goers inching closer to the curb.
“We have to stake out our own yard,” Brett Anlwes said, as the scent of grilled hamburgers and friendly laughter filled the area around his parade-route home.
Soon, 87-year-old Bob Covey, this year’s parade grand marshal, stepped out of a 1931 Ford Pheaton to clapping well-wishers in front of the grandstand.
“He’s devoted his life to charitable events,” daughter-in-law Susie Covey said as she hugged her father-in-law with tears in her eyes.
Parade-watchers rose to their feet as Veterans of Foreign Wars’ Crystal Lake Memorial Post 12014 marched by carrying a symbol of America’s freedom.
“This is Americana at its finest living in the village of Lakewood,” Marty Moister said, a more than 20 year Crystal Lake parade watching veteran.
“God Bless America” echoed from the aboard the Senior Services Association float as it motored by with a distant backdrop view of a sailboat gliding across the city’s namesake lake.
“We fell in love with it here more than 20 years ago in Crystal Lake, and have been here ever since,” Dave Christensen said.
“I say this is the best Fourth of July parade anywhere,” Christensen’s mother-in-law Jeri Brenneis said, of Milwaukee as the duo of American flags atop her headband waved in the air.
Fireworks over the lake at Main Beach provided by the city of Crystal Lake in conjunction with the Crystal Lake Park District culminated the long weekend of festivities of Lakeside Festival 2009.
