“I’m 13 today!” yelled Johnathan Parker, as he, from the back of a dilapidated Ford pickup truck, lobbed a fistful of candy towards the crowd gathered along Main Street during Boulder’s Fourth of July parade.
Parker and his friend, fellow Boulder resident Luke Enquist, chose to celebrate both his and America’s birthday by participating in the parade. That was, I think, wonderful — and so was the parade itself.
Boulder’s Independence Day celebration, according to Jefferson County Events Coordinator Bruce Binkowski, happens each year without formal planning or coordination from county or city government. “Everyone just shows up,” he said. “No one registers, and there isn’t any coaxing or planning, really. There’s something of an unwritten tradition that if you arrive at Veterans Park before 11:30 a.m., then you’re in the parade. It materializes on its own.”
And so it did! Roughly 50 individuals and organizations prepared vehicles, horses, flags, and displays for the parade, which was attended by more than 300 people. Children darted into the street for candy under the watchful eyes of their parents, who themselves sat, stood, and meandered up and down Main Street as the parade went by.
I find it particularly interesting that such a grand display of community and patriotism simply emerges each year. It is superficially spontaneous, but yet informed, if not outright organized, by an informal tradition. Individuals independently decide to join the parade and, somehow, a proper caravan manifests. One man I spoke to, Dan Hursey, who has lived in Boulder for most of the 81 years of his life has participated in the parade many times, put it best and most plainly: “If people didn’t show up, there’d be no parade. And we need a parade.”
Hursey, and perhaps Boulder more broadly, seem to represent an increasingly uncommon attitude among modern-day Americans. According to a 2023 poll from the Wall Street Journal, only 38 percent of Americans feel that patriotism is very important to them. This is down from 70 percent in 1998. Believe it or not, there are, today, places in the United States where waving an American flag on any day not the Fourth of July is considered an expressly political activity. Only 27 percent say that community is very important to them, down from 47 percent. In the midst of an ongoing national reevaluation of seemingly all of our public symbols, traditions, and understanding of history, I find how the Boulder Fourth of July parade creates itself to be exceptionally refreshing, and a cause for optimism for the future of community life in America. It is a clear example of disparate community members coming together patriotically, regardless of creed, kind, or political affiliation.
The beautiful outburst that is Boulder’s Fourth of July parade also poses an interesting question. To what degree can daily American life operate independently of government involvement?
I’d say: A parade is a modest undertaking in the scheme of things, but it represents an important idea, or ideal — an example of spontaneous, self-guided community organizing.
The reality is that citizens can come together to make change on their own. They do this all the time. Just look at what’s emerging with two local efforts, Reimagining Boulder and AS&C of Jefferson County. Reimagining, an informal group that came together less than two years ago, organized last summer’s restoration of the Connie Smith mural in downtown Boulder, and put together an exhibit of the artist’s work; in the last few weeks, it has secured and installed flower boxes in front of Main Street businesses.
AS&C spent years trying to convince county voters to approve a levy to support an animal shelter. When the levy failed (three times!), it decided to make the shelter happen, anyway. Countless fundraisers and volunteer hours later, a basic shelter building has gone up on Muskrat Lane, along with a fenced animal run.
Those are both meaningful grass-roots initiatives that have yielded impact with little to no government intervention or support. We should be looking for more opportunities, locally and nationally, to create similar frameworks and opportunities for individuals to meaningfully and independently participate in public life.
