Freedom Festival Grand Parade draws thousands for a patriotic display of color and music
Members of the Little Miss Lehi pageant ride their float that they created during the Freedom Festival Grand Parade, on Monday, July 4, 2016. The parade is the largest of its kind in Utah and attracts thousands to Provo every year to celebrate the Fourth of July. SAMMY JO HESTER, Daily Herald
Provo Mayor John Curtis makes his way through the parade route during the Freedom Festival Grand Parade on Monday, July 4, 2016. The parade is the largest of its kind in Utah and attracts thousands to Provo every year to celebrate the Fourth of July. SAMMY JO HESTER, Daily Herald
Provo High School marching band makes their way through the parade route during the Freedom Festival Grand Parade, on Monday, July 4, 2016. The parade is the largest of its kind in Utah and attracts thousands to Provo every year to celebrate the Fourth of July. SAMMY JO HESTER, Daily Herald
Madison Dennis looks toward the parade route during the Freedom Festival Grand Parade, on Monday, July 4, 2016. The parade is the largest of its kind in Utah and attracts thousands to Provo every year to celebrate the Fourth of July. SAMMY JO HESTER, Daily Herald
A unicyclist makes her way through the parade route during the Freedom Festival Grand Parade, on Monday, July 4, 2016. The parade is the largest of its kind in Utah and attracts thousands to Provo every year to celebrate the Fourth of July. SAMMY JO HESTER, Daily Herald
Spectators watch and take photographs during the Freedom Festival Grand Parade, on Monday, July 4, 2016. The parade is the largest of its kind in Utah and attracts thousands to Provo every year to celebrate the Fourth of July. SAMMY JO HESTER, Daily Herald
Madison Dennis looks toward the parade route during the Freedom Festival Grand Parade on July 4. The parade is the largest of its kind in Utah and attracts thousands to Provo every year to celebrate the Fourth of July. http://bit.ly/29xPACn
Though the Freedom Festival Grand Parade followed a slightly different route this year, it didn’t stop thousands from lining the streets of downtown Provo on Monday morning.
“The Grand Parade is one of Utah’s great traditions, and this year we’ve expanded the parade route to accommodate our growing crowds,” said Paul Warner, executive director of America’s Freedom Festival. “We are so appreciative of the countless volunteers and civic leaders who help us make this special event a reality every year.”
Local floats, rodeo queens, government officials, honored guests and military representatives were only just a few of the many parade entries that set the crowds cheering. To the delight of children of all ages, balloons featuring Nemo, Kermit and Kung Fu Panda’s Po floated down University Avenue — pausing at times for a celebratory spin.
Perhaps earning themselves some of the loudest ovations, the Provo- and Orem-area missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints strode down the route in their white shirts and ties or skirts. Bringing up their rear in the Entrata double-decker bus and a large flatbed trailer, local senior missionaries — or the “Seasoned Warriors,” as they called themselves — waved to the adoring crowd.
Early on in the parade, applause and cheers also greeted Richard Norby, Mason Wells and Joseph Dresden Empey, three of the LDS missionaries injured in the March terrorist attack the Brussels airport. Following them — and receiving his own shouts and applause — was retired U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati, the Iranian-American who was held in an Iranian prison for multiple years before being released in January. Hekmati, Norby, Wells and Empey were all also honored at Stadium of Fire on Saturday night.
In keeping with the patriotism of Independence Day, the parade included multiple military entries, honoring the service and sacrifice of veterans or those killed in action. Multiple Freedom Vehicles — restored military jeeps, trucks and even an amphibious truck — rolled down the route, carrying active military personnel and their families. A few of the kids riding in the trucks took great pleasure in shooting off the vehicles’ armory with a lot of noise, smoke and blanks.
Elk Ridge resident Jim Towse, father of Army combat medic Cody Towse who was killed in action in Afghanistan in 2013, also rode in the parade on his way to a memorial service for fallen Utah County military residents.
Local high school marching bands, from the smaller Spanish Fork High School band to the huge American Fork High School band, all sweated it out in their full polyester suits and plumed hats, staying in formation, on step, and musically in tune despite the warmth of the morning. Most bands performed patriotic tunes or something modern and peppy, but one band threw in the children’s song, “If You’re Happy and You Know It,” as they marched by the Wells Fargo Center on University Avenue.
And you know the throng assembled there — some of whom had slept out all night on the street for their coveted spot — were very happy with the results of this year’s Grand Parade. Hundreds made a day of it, sticking around to scream their way through rides at the carnival, visit Freedom Days vendors, or listen to the performers at the Festival’s Main Stage just off Center Street and University Avenue.