Crowds celebrate freedom on Fourth

Yes, it was hot, which only made the great American melting pot sizzle as folks from throughout the community assembled for a like-minded goal.

“It’s just a birthday party for our freedom,” Josh Dillon of Mount Airy said Thursday as he sat along North Main Street awaiting the annual Fourth of July Parade through the downtown section with hundreds of others.

“It’s just celebrating what America’s all about,” added Dillon, whose red, white and blue attire adorned with stars matched the spirit of the occasion that included many others dressed likewise.

The annual holiday parade — the most well-attended organizers can remember — was among other festivities Thursday, which kicked off with a traditional reading of the Declaration of Independence in the courtyard of Mount Airy Museum of Regional History.

A fireworks show at Veterans Memorial Park capped off the day’s public activities, which were punctuated by a patriotic theme.

The parade featured colorful floats by military and church groups, businesses and one carrying Grand Marshal Ericca Latza. The latter featured a screen showing a video of the Nashville country music artist performing a song about her hometown of Mount Airy.

Then there were unique vehicles such as mini-cars, antique vehicles, muscle cars, all-terrain vehicles and fire trucks from at least four different departments with sirens and horns blaring along with the Mount Airy Rescue Squad; animals including llamas and horses; and various costumed characters.

Local elected officials and political candidates were a further parade presence, including Mayor Jon Cawley riding in a convertible and Commissioner Deborah Cochran in a horse-drawn wagon.

A seemingly endless caravan of Jeeps concluded the parade.

An added bonus was the candy tossed on the street many of those riding in the procession.

”Huge” attendance

Oh, and there were the people — lots and lots of appreciative spectators for the parade lasting about 45 minutes.

“I thought the crowd size was huge,” Jennie Lowry of the Downtown Business Association said afterward of the throng gathered in the central business district which was several people deep along the sidewalks in some cases.

Buoyed by hot but pleasant weather overall, folks began congregating along North Street before 10 a.m. to secure choice viewing spots for the parade scheduled more than an hour later, including seats in the shade in some cases.

“I thought it was the biggest turnout we had before the parade in a long time,” Lowry said.

“The patriotism was displayed, as in previous years,” the Downtown Business Association official added.

Folks came from near and far, with Maxine Smith venturing all the way from Swansboro wearing a flag-patterned dress.

Smith was here for the first time on the Fourth, coming at the urging of friends who had recommended both the local parade and fireworks.

Why we’re here

Thursday’s events downtown began with a singing of the national anthem, then the reading of the Declaration of Independence.

Those attended were given copies of the historic document the Founding Fathers signed in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776.

It took a stern stand against the tyranny of the British monarchy then controlling the American colonies.

This would trigger the bloody Revolution as the patriots fought to achieve the “inalienable rights” stated in the Declaration of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

“Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends,” local actor Brack Llewellyn said, reciting from the document, “it is the right of the people to alter it or abolish it,” he stressed.

The list of grievances against the king included taxation without representation, the quartering of British soldiers in private homes, inciting Native American peoples to fight the colonists and more.

After his presentation, Llewellyn told the crowd how King George III wrote in his journal on the date the Declaration of Independence was signed that “nothing of importance happened today.”

Llewellyn, who was wearing bulky period clothing complete with three-cornered hat, seemed glad to shed those garments afterward.

“It gives me new respect for the people of the colonial era,” he observed.