Grand Parade focuses on veterans, will also feature newly released Josh Holt
The fire engine drives in a previous Freedom Festival Grand Parade.
People enjoy the various fun floats and characters that make up the diversity of Utah County during the Freedom Festival Grand Parade on Tuesday, July 4, 2017, in Provo. DOMINIC VALENTE, Daily Herald
People enjoy the various fun floats and characters that make up the diversity of Utah County during the Freedom Festival Grand Parade on Tuesday, July 4, 2017 in Provo. DOMINIC VALENTE, Daily Herald
Governor of Utah Gary Herbert and his family wave as people greet him during the Freedom Festival Grand Parade on Tuesday, July 4, 2017 in Provo. DOMINIC VALENTE, Daily Herald
Community leaders and grand marshals Alan and Karen Ashton will appear in the Freedom Festival’s Grand Parade at 9 a.m. July 4 — along with 11-year-old California native Preston Sharp, recognized by President Donald Trump for his work decorating veterans’ graves.
Josh Holt, a Utahn kept prisoner in a Venezuela jail for nearly two years after a trip to visit and marry a woman, will also be in attendance at the parade after his recent release and return to the United States.
Holt returned to Utah in May after he and his Venezuelan wife were locked in a Caracas jail alongside some of the country’s most-hardened criminals — and President Nicolas Maduro’s top opponents — for what the U.S. government argued were bogus charges of stockpiling weapons. Multiple U.S. officials and politicians were involved in Holt’s release and extraction from Venezuela.
Parade attendees will also see 100-year-old Lt. Col. Grant Keeler, a World War II and Vietnam War veteran, and Bun Yom, a Cambodia killing fields survivor and Cambodian Freedom Fighter. Both men will receive awards at the Freedom Awards Gala.
Provo’s mayor and Municipal Council, as well as Utah County Commissioners will also be in the parade.
Elmo and the Kung Fu Panda will be flying high during the Grand Parade but the largest Independence Day parade in Utah includes more than giant balloons.
Here’s what makes the 2018 Grand Parade possible:
• 300,000 spectators
• 400 volunteers
• 80 Honey Buckets along the parade route
• 30 military vehicles, representing each war since World War I
• 20 different floats
• 16 bands, including the Utah Drum and Bugle Corp, The Battalion.
• 12 equestrian units
“[Our volunteers] include local ham radio operators at every intersection,” said Dorene Nelson, publicity chairman for the Freedom Festival. “On average, they reunite wandering parents with their kids within two minutes of discovering the separation.”
There are 40 people on the parade planning committee, with volunteers under each individual. There are 100 volunteers alone dedicated to balloons, then volunteers helping with security before and after the parade, radio operators, banner carriers, band assistance, military planning and more.
In 2017, the festival attracted wide attention after accepting a local LGBTQ group to participate in the parade, and then rescinding the acceptance shortly before the event. The controversy ensued this year after five LGBTQ groups were denied after Utah County and Provo had updated festival contracts to include nondiscrimination clauses. One day later after the rejections and public uproar, the festival met with the five groups to come to a compromise that would include them in the parade.The Grand Parade begins at Provo High School and follows the same route as 2017. It moves south on University Ave to 200 South, then east to 200 East. The parade then heads north to Center Street and concludes by moving east to 900 East.
According to the festival, the construction on University Avenue will not interfere with the parade route and festivities. Construction crews are “pushing to get done or at least they will clean up.” Construction also had to be cleaned up in 2017 in preparation for the festival’s parade.
Roads along the parade route close at 6:30 a.m. for the Freedom Run. A pre-parade also begins at 8 a.m.