Independence Day celebrations bring patriotism, family fun to local area

By Robert Tomlinson
News Director

CONSTANTINE — The 249th birthday celebrations for the United States were very much well-attended in a number of local municipalities.
On July 4, three local communities held celebrations for Independence Day that brough crowds from all around the area to don their red, white and blue and celebrate the ideals of the nation.
In Constantine, festivities began early with the Firecracker 4K event at Sweetland Stadium at 8:30 a.m., followed by their annual street parade at 11 a.m. through the downtown area. A number of entries in the parade were decked with the country’s colors, along with tractors, trucks, and even a float depicting the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Later in the evening, there was a bluegrass concert at Shelby Park, and then the annual fireworks at the Little League fields at dusk.
Constantine Village Manager Mark Honeysett said turnout was pretty good for all of the events on the docket that day, and a lot of positive feedback as well, in particular for the fireworks display.
“I haven’t heard any disparaging comments, and I think it went really well. There was a positive response to the quality of the fireworks themselves,” Honeysett said. He noted that this year’s fireworks display was the last one done by the current fireworks operator, Night Magic, who he said “outdid themselves.”
Honeysett also noted that there were “more than usual” entries into this year’s parade, which he said was “nice to see,” with participants “exceeding the average.”
The importance of celebrating the day in Constantine, Honeysett said, is paramount to the community, especially with a couple of big milestones coming up in the village.
“We’re closing in on 50 years that there have been fireworks in Constantine, so it’s absolutely an institution. I think people would be upset if we couldn’t do it one year,” Honeysett said. “The parade isn’t the biggest one, but it’s still a linchpin. Over the next couple of years, I’m hoping it’s going to be bigger because next year is the nation’s 250th anniversary, and two years from that is Constantine’s 200th anniversary. I hope we can build up for those things too.”
In Schoolcraft, which normally has one of the biggest celebrations in the area, while it was still well-attended, organizers from the village’s Fourth of July Committee still noted that traffic was “a lot slower” due to the lack of a street parade. That decision to cancel the street parade was made over a week before the festivities by the Schoolcraft Village Council due to what the village called a lack of law enforcement staffing.
However, one local organization attempted to fill the void of a street parade by moving it off the street and onto the sidewalks. The American Legion Post 475 in Schoolcraft cobbled together a sidewalk parade on July 4, with around 40 entries, including flagbearers and a number of walkers.
“As the American Legion commander, the Fourth is too important to not represent with the colors. We posted this sidewalk parade on the web, offered for people to join, and we got 40 walkers,” Schoolcraft American Legion Post Commander Don Benthin said. “We need to support the community; we have a tradition of being the longest-running parade in the area, so it’s important.”
Schoolcraft 4th of July Committee Vice President Kim Parker praised the ingenuity of the American Legion for taking up the mantle.
“We were happy that they were able to get that in, show their patriotism and show they were proud of America,” Parker said.
A number of events still kept on ticking during the festivities, like the Lions Club Pancake Breakfast, the American Legion’s chicken and ribs barbecue, and the car show at Burch Park. The fireworks display occurred on July 5 instead of July 4 due to scheduling, and Parker said it went off well. However, the loss of the big street parade was still felt by organizers.
“We just didn’t have the crowds we normally do. The fireworks were close to being normal [attendance], but still I didn’t see as many people as we normally did,” Parker said. “We were happy we could at least do the fireworks, and people enjoyed those.”
Parker said she hopes next year, for the 250th birthday of the country, things will be fully back to normal in the village.
“We don’t want to do all this work and not have anything to show for it,” Parker said. “We plan on being back bigger and better.”
The biggest celebration in the area was in Colon, where Parade Director and Colon Chamber of Commerce Trustee Cindy Conklin said 3,000 people descended on the village for their annual Fourth of July festivities.
Outside of the parade, the festivities, which were put together and sponsored by the local Chamber, included vendors and food trucks on North Blackstone Avenue, a cake walk, kids’ games, an evening concert from country music singer DeWayne Spaw, and fireworks at dusk.
“The parade went very good, it was about an hour-long parade. We had eight different fire departments there, and all kinds of floats, tractors, semis, and a little bit of everything,” Conklin said.
The festivities also crowned the village’s annual Citizens of the Year, which were Dan and Kathy Earl, the now-retired former owner of Curly’s in downtown Colon.
With how many people the event draws between residents and visitors for the biggest celebration in the county, Conklin said Fourth of July is very important to the Colon community, and everyone as a whole.
“People really love coming to the parade; they put out their chairs the night before so they have the right spot for the parade, and between them and all the lake people that come in from Detroit and Chicago, it’s a big celebration,” Conklin said.
Robert Tomlinson can be reached at 279-7488 or robert@wilcoxnewspapers.com.