Bubbles filled the air and candy littered the ground as parade floats — part of Granville’s annual “Mile Long Parade” — weaved their way from Wildwood Park down Broadway.
The parade is one of the most notable events of Granville’s Fourth of July festival but the celebration featured everything from Granville High School band performances to fireworks in Wildwood Park to plenty of amusement park rides and good old-fashioned deep-fried fair food.
The entire celebration took place from 1:00 p.m. on July 3 to 8:00 p.m. on July 6 and. Part of Broadway was closed off until the morning of the 7.
The annual celebration was organized by Granville Kiwanis, a volunteer organization that supports community projects and provides charity to the greater Granville community. Kiwanis is a volunteer organization that emphasizes community building with chapters across the country.
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Granville Kiwanis has been organizing the celebration since 1964, when the organization took over from Active 20-30 Club.
“The earliest picture I have seen is from 1915,” Lesa Miller said about the origins of the festival.
Miller has been a Granville Kiwanis member for 12 years, but this is her sixth year as co-chair of the festival.
Kiwanis worked with Bates Amusement, who provided many of the food trailers and the rides and games. Some of the booths were organized by local groups, such as Granville High School’s Lemon Shake-Ups and the well-loved Boy Scouts of America’s french fries.
Also on the fourth was the Patriotic Pet Contest and Back Porch Swing Band. The pet contest featured a variety of pets, both big and small, in red, white and blue decorations.
Racquael Wilkes’ dog Ruby, an Irish setter, won the big-dog section of the Patriotic Pet Contest. Ruby was decked out in red sunglasses, a headband, a floral lei, mini American flags, plenty of shiny decorative ribbons and an American flag balloon that was tied to her.
“My grandchildren came up and we decorated her together,” Wilkes said.
Ruby is nine years old and is a big fan of guarding her family’s chickens, helping Wilkes in the garden and playing ball.
Pete Shew and Stephanie McManaway are two members of Back Porch Swing Band, which performed on the afternoon of the fourth. Shew has been in the band for 25 years, and McManaway has been in it for 15.
“It’s an eclectic mix of various different influences, including blues, jazz, Applachian culture, [and] folk,” said Mcmanewey about the western swing genre of music they perform.
Kiwanis member Melissa Miller, Lesa’ daughter, worked hard to get the word out about the festival.
“The Granville Sentinel featured an outstanding article that captured our festival’s activities, and we even had a delightful mother-daughter radio interview broadcast on Kool 101.7,” she said.
But she also knows that this event is a tradition that people don’t like to miss.
“Many of us grew up counting down the days to the Kiwanis 4th of July Celebration,” Melissa Miller added. “As new members join our community and create their own memories, many people return year after year, regardless of the distance they live, to share those cherished traditions with their families and reconnect with lifelong friends.”
Ellie Owen writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.