Jack Cramer opens the parade with patriotic song.

July 4th 2013 Parade

"Around 70 floats rolled past hundreds of spectators lining the entire parade route — coming from East Main Street to Mill Street and then up Neal Street. There was no shortage of fire trucks, classic cars, motorcycles, singers, marchers and political representatives of both towns’ governments. Standing in the shade of the historic Del Oro Theatre, Capt. Rex Marks of the Grass Valley Police Department estimated the attendee turnout was on par from past years’ average turnout," wrote the Union newspaper's Christopher Rosacker.

"This year’s grand marshal was Lowell Robinson, 84, patriarch of Robinson Enterprises. The Robinson family’s company has long benefited many Nevada County endeavors and nonprofits, including Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital, Nevada Union High School, Sierra College, Nevada County Historical Society, Future Farmers of America, Boy Scouts of America, United Way, Junior Achievement, 4-H, local fire departments and the Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum."

Sue and Ted with the Freedom Riders.

Cheryl sings from  the Tea Party float.

On the Atlantic coast of North America were the Original Thirteen Colonies, founded between 1607 and 1773. In 1775, the thirteen colonies revolted in the American Revolution and finally declared their independence from England and the British Crown on July 4th, 1776. That date was marked to go down in history as Independence Day (or Fourth of July). It's the most memorial date in the history of America. Fourth of July is a federal holiday in the USA. It's also the day that Americans would put their political differences aside, come together and celebrate the freedom for the land that they love, the USA.

"Hosting the Independence Day parade on odd-numbered years has been a tradition for Grass Valley since 1903. Prior to 1902, Grass Valley and Nevada City competed for the biggest July Fourth parade, but when the streetcar line opened and the two towns became connected in ways that had not previously been possible, leaders of the both communities came together and agreed to host the annual parade on alternate years.

According to Keith Davies, executive director of the Greater Grass Valley Chamber of Commerce, " The tradition is over a century old and because of cooperation between Grass Valley and Nevada City, we are able to present the best small-town parade in Northern California,” Davies said previously. “And what helps make it especially enjoyable are the imaginative entries that come from nonprofit groups, individuals and local commercial companies.”

My theme song for this page is the Neil Young and Crazy Horse version of Woody Guthrie's song, "This Land is Your Land." Some like to laugh that he was a communist who lived here in the land of the free. But that's what the war of Independence was all about, and why we celebrate it every Fourth of July. It was the beginning of America's Constitution and Bill of Rights. The song is one of America's all-time favorite patriotic folk songs.

Hope you had a great day....

This Land is Your Land

By Woody Guthrie

This land is your land This land is my land
From California to the New York island;
From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me.

As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign "No Trespassing."
But on the other side it didn't say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.

In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?

This land is your land This land is my land
From California to the New York island;
From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me.

 Nobody living can ever stop me,
As I go walking that freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me.

This land is your land This land is my land
From California to the New York island;
From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me.

As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign "No Trespassing."
But on the other side it didn't say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.

This land is your land This land is my land
From California to the New York island;
From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me.

 

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