The Riverside community lines the sidewalks downtown as the procession reaches the end of its route at the parade. Credit: Jill Wagner 
Growing Community Media Board of Directors member Charlie Meyerson hands out a piece of candy to the crowd in Brookfield. Credit: Jill Wagner 
Riverside-Brookfield Landmark staff reporter Trent Brown (left) and sportswriter Bill Stone prepare to give away candy at the 2025 Fourth of July parade in Brookfield. Credit: Jill Wagner 
Riverside Brookfield High School students march through downtown Riverside in the parade on July 4, 2025. Credit: Jill Wagner
Every year, when the Fourth of July rolls around, people think of classic summer activities like barbecue lunches and kids playing outside, and in Brookfield and Riverside, many associate the federal holiday with annual parades that morning.
For many, it’s a day off of work, but for the Landmark, the morning starts with showing out at both parades to represent our work and meet the community behind our readership.
While it was an early morning to make it to Riverside on time — especially for this reporter, whose apartment is on the Far North Side of Chicago — the groggy drive was worth it to see people’s smiling faces lining the sidewalks as we processed through town, from Delaplaine Road down Longcommon Road and ending at Riverside Township Hall.
Alongside Jill Wagner, the Landmark’s circulation manager, Bill Stone, its high school sportswriter, and Charlie Meyerson, a member of its nonprofit board of directors, I handed out sweet candy treats, from Nerds and Laffy Taffy to gummy fruit snacks. While this line of work leads me to speak with many community members, I shared a moment with more residents than ever each time I threw someone candy and they caught it (or, sometimes, they didn’t). While we heard other groups rationed out candy only to kids, at the Landmark, it’s for everyone, from kids to their parents and grandparents watching them.
In Brookfield, too, we marched from Garfield Avenue all the way to village hall, slinging candy everywhere we went.
A few dedicated readers supported us vocally from the sidelines, which I really appreciated. The Landmark is a source of local news for everyone in town, but it was nice to put some faces to the readership we work to serve and inform with our newspapers each week.
Thank you to everyone who showed up on Friday, whether you walked in a parade for your own group or just watched before heading to further celebrations later in the day. While I don’t live in Brookfield or Riverside, I write for them and work for them, and you all made me feel like a small piece of your community that day. From the bottom of my heart, and the bottom of the Landmark’s archives, thank you all.
