The Fourth of July is just around the corner, bringing with it a day of summer fun in the sun as we recognize the country’s 249th birthday.
Whether you live in Brookfield or Riverside, there are ways to celebrate the day out in the community, including the annual parades where the Landmark will be marching.
In Riverside, the day will begin with the village’s 47th annual Independence Day 5K. Starting at the Water Tower at Centennial Park, participants will race around the edge of town, from Akenside and Northwood roads to Northgate, Selborne and Parkway roads, with a long stretch on Longcommon Road completing the loop. It costs $35 to pre-register for the race or $40 to sign up on race day.
The race will start at 7:30 a.m. sharp and end at 8:15 a.m. The village encourages runners to bring their own water so they can stay hydrated, as there will not be water stations along the route.
At 8:45 a.m., Riverside’s annual parade will kick off at the northwest corner of Big Ball Park, heading west on Delaplaine Road before turning south on Longcommon Road and dispersing after passing Riverside Township Hall.
The parade will be followed by a community festival at Guthrie Park from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., with music and activities for families and food and drink available for purchase from local vendors. A Toddler Trot will be held at 11 a.m. in the park for anyone too small to join in the 5K earlier on.
If you’re really in the mood to celebrate, there will also be a concert in Guthrie Park on Thursday, July 3. Starting with the National Anthem at 5:30 p.m., DJ Mattio will take the stage until 7 p.m., when Wedding Banned — self-dubbed the “world’s greatest wedding band” — will play until 10 p.m.
In Brookfield, festivities will begin at 10 a.m. on July 4 with the village’s annual parade. If you have a favorite spot from which to watch, though, this might not be the year for it, as Brookfield announced a new route in April that will avoid ongoing streetscape construction work on the 3700 block of Grand Boulevard.
The parade will kick off on Grand Boulevard from Garfield Avenue and head southeast. At Eight Corners, marchers will pass the announcing booth and head east on Washington Avenue until they turn south on Arden Avenue, and the parade will dissipate after reaching Brookfield Avenue.
Brookfield’s annual Party in the Park will start at noon in Kiwanis Park, featuring food and drinks for purchase with live music from noon to 5 p.m. Kids can get excited for a balloon artist, a bounce house and an inflatable slide.
Be aware that parking on the east side of Arden Avenue will be closed for the duration of the parade so spectators can watch from either side of the road. It will reopen before the Party in the Park begins, so excited residents can bring their supplies to celebrate all day.
Keep an eye out for the empty shopping cart
If you plan to attend the parade in Brookfield on Friday, take a look through your kitchen or bathroom cabinets first.
The Share Food Share Love food pantry will be walking in the parade with an empty shopping cart for onlookers to fill with non-perishable food items and personal hygiene products the pantry can then offer to neighbors in need.
John Dumas, the food pantry’s administrative director, told the Landmark the imagery of the empty shopping cart invokes the experience of visitors to the pantry.
“We use regular-size shopping carts in the pantry, and that’s done as part of our initiative to help our neighbors who come to the pantry to maintain their dignity. The dignity of our neighbors is our North Star,” he said. “The number one reason that people who need food assistance don’t get it is because they’re embarrassed or ashamed. Usually, it’s a pride issue, so, in order to overcome that, we try to do everything we can to make the experience dignified … Using the shopping cart in the parade is an extension of what we do every week in the pantry.”
Dumas said the food pantry is seeking paper goods like toilet paper and paper towels and products for shaving, brushing teeth and other personal hygiene needs over food staples it can get elsewhere, often at a reduced price, though non-perishables will be accepted. He said the pantry does need staple ingredients, like flour or sugar, so visitors can cook meals for themselves.
He said he hopes the shopping cart will remind Brookfielders that not everyone is having their needs met.
“There are many people in this country, probably more than most of us think, who don’t believe that a lot of these things are issues. They think that people that use food pantries are scamming people or that they’re lazy, and they don’t work,” he said. “We want to remind people that it’s real in the local sense. It’s not some far-off person that they don’t know of, that they’re never going to encounter. These are their neighbors and the people that they know in their community.”
