Join the parade! Cloverdale-Idlewild Fourth of July celebration looks at election of 1824

“Find a mission that you can give yourself over to and then spend your days moving that mission forward.” — President John Quincy Adams

For almost half a century, Charlie Colvin and the Cloverdale-Idlewild Association have been on a mission to celebrate the Fourth of July in Montgomery. He practically bleeds red, white and blue, and has the outfit and striped “Mad Hatter” top hat to match.

As always, you can see him looking like the city’s version of “Uncle Sam” in the Cloverdale-Idlewild Fourth of July Parade.

“Our first parade was a warm-up parade in 1975,” Colvin said — a year ahead of the U.S. Bicentennial celebration. “We’ve had a parade every year since.”

Independence Day falls on a Thursday this year, which Colvin said is good news for the parade.

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“That actually works out best for us, because if it’s on a Friday, people are taking off for the lake or the beach or whatever. Because they’ve got the three-day weekend,” Colvin said.

The Montgomery resident will be dressed in his patriotic best Thursday at 2 p.m. to help lead the Cloverdale-Idlewild Association’s annual Fourth of July Parade. Colvin said participants should gather by about 1:30 p.m. at the corner of Lexington and Plymouth streets.

“We’ve got people who were little kids in the parade, and now they’re bringing their kids,” Colvin said. “In some cases, their grandkids.”

The theme for this year’s parade is wrapped around the presidential race of 1824, which was ultimately won by John Quincy Adams.

“We always look back 200 years,” Colvin said.

Adams became the 6th president, despite being behind Andrew Jackson in both electoral and popular votes. According to the American Presidency Project, Jackson had 99 electoral and 151,271 popular, while Adams had 84 electoral and 113,122 popular. What cost Jackson the win was that two other candidates split up the votes: William H. Crawford (41 electoral, 30,856 popular) and Henry Clay (37 electoral, 47,531 popular). Out of a total of 261 electoral votes, all four fell short of the 131 mark needed to claim the win. From there, the election was put into the hands of the House of Representatives.

“It was referred to Congress, and they elected (Adams),” Colvin said.

For the parade, this year Colvin said his Volkswagen’s patriotic decorations would be joined by campaign stickers for the 1824 candidates.

“My job is to make that story clean and clear, without being too much in the weeds,” said Colvin, who will discuss the circumstances around the 1824’s presidential race at Cloverdale Bottom Park, the site where the parade always comes to an end.

“Then it turns into kind of a meet and greet,” Colvin said. “People have normally already got their coolers, chairs and things prepositioned at the park.”

Like always, people who want to join in the parade are welcome to do so. The only requirement is that the vehicles, bikes, or whatever have to be decorated in red, white and blue.

“It can be a lawnmower, it can be a wheelbarrow,” Colvin said.

Learn more about the parade and the Cloverdale-Idlewild Association online at montgomerycia.com.

Montgomery Advertiser reporter Shannon Heupel covers things to do in the River Region. Contact him at sheupel@gannett.com.