I look forward to celebrating the 4th of July every summer. It means that summer is in full swing and we get an extra day off of work - which this year meant a long weekend! It has become a tradition for my family to go to the Lake Bluff 4th of July Parade every year - this was probably our 7th or 8th year straight attending. Each year we have a great time.

This parade always gets a good crowd. The parade runs through downtown Lake Bluff so people are lined up with lawn chairs on both sides of the street all through the downtown area. Many people wear red, white and blue so it feels very festive just being there.

Off to the side where the Lake Bluff Farmers Market is held normally, they had tents set-up where you could by burgers, hot dogs and other food and drinks. We stopped there on our way to finding a spot to watch the parade.

One of my favorite parts of the parade is always the marching bands - especially the drummers. This year we were able to hear a lot of them throughout the parade as there were marching bands from many different schools around the area in attendance. I also enjoyed seeing the cheerleaders and dancers. Every 4 or 5 minutes they would stop and put on a little routine. At one point a group of peewee cheerleaders came by, they were so cute, probably aged 3-6 and it was obvious they were loving being part of the parade. There is also a bagpipe group that march in the parade as well, they are so good, we love hearing them play!

Each year a group of Lake Bluff men take part in the parade and dress up or represent something big going on politically or in the news. This year they did a tribute to Micheal Jackson. They had one person dressed as Michael Jackson trying to pull off the moonwalk and some of his other famous moves and the rest of the men followed behind dancing as Thriller and other songs blared from the speakers - they did a great job of keeping it light and entertaining.

There were many other interesting floats and people involved in the parade, it was a great time and lasted about two hours. The kids love to collect all of the candy and trinkets that are given out. The parade concludes with numerous police cars and fire trucks with their sirens and lights on. It was a great way to start out the 4th of July holiday.

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