By Mark Weyermuller -
There's no shortage of things to do on Independence Day in the Chicago area. For the past few years I have gone to multiple events, including festivals, speeches and parades. This year was no different.
Sunday afternoon I went to the celebration at the Gilson Park Picnic in Wilmette. The extravaganza includes food, kids activities, fireworks, live music, and the Jesse White Tumblers. As you know, Jesse is the Secretary of State in Illinois in charge of the Department of Motor Vehicles.
As property taxes hike in Wilmette, some have issue with this one day event which may cost over one million dollars. In a random survey, about 60% of the attendees were not Wilmette residents. There is little dispute that the event is very nice for everybody, but is it an appropriate use of scarce funds? I would estimate about 5000 people attending, including many watching the fireworks nearby.
Monday, I visited several parades and fireworks displays, starting in Niles, Illinois.
In a park at the start of the parade, Notre Dame High School has a annual display of 3518 American Flags - one flag for each American from Niles that lost his or her life in wars for freedom.
In Niles, I saw a car from the Republican Organization promoting Donald Trump for President. I also saw Joan McCarthy Lasonde, who is running in the 9th Congressional District against incumbent Jan Schakowsky.
After Niles, I headed to the Chicago Historical Museum on North and Clark for their festivities, which included live music, speakers, a reading of the Declaration of Independence and a ten-minute kids parade. The tall Uncle Sam on stilts made an appearance here after seeing him in Wilmette the night before at their event.
My last parade of the day was on Central Street in downtown Evanston. In an unusual move, this long parade was cut by about 30%, which made it about 90 minutes with little explanation from anybody. It featured the usual marching bands, floats, politicians and political agendas.
There was a large group advocating for "common sense gun control." It is disputed what common sense means while this groups wants less guns along with possible removal of the second amendment, others disagree. My "common sense" would be going after offenders of violence. Other controversial groups included a pro choice/pro abortion group.
Most parades are family friendly, but much like the Pride Parade I attended last week, many families cringe at some of these marching units with their controversial messages. As usual the North Shore Mosquito District had three vehicles in the parade. This group may be eliminated or consolidated in my opinion. Why are they a parade unit and how much does it cost. Is this their main function to be in parades or are they just showing they are relevant?
It was good to see some Republicans marching this year including Joan McCarthy Lasonde who is running for Congress in the 9th district in my area. I also saw Jessica Tucker who is running for Illinois State Representative in the 18th district.
All in all, it was a great day to celebrate July 4, 2016, that is Independence Day.
