The weather for July 4 was warm and so was the reception of the
crowd for this year
’s record-breaking parade in downtown Morgan Hill.
The weather for July 4 was warm and so was the reception of the crowd for this year’s record-breaking parade in downtown Morgan Hill.
With crowds swelling past the 30,000 mark, entries reaching 200, Santa Clara County’s only Fourth of July parade was a huge success.
“There is no place like home in Morgan Hill for the Fourth of July,” said Miguel Olivo a 19-year-old Morgan Hill resident who has never missed a parade.
The crowd was enthusiastic, the participants were energetic and despite some microphone troubles, the parade Friday went off without a hitch.
According to the parade’s co-chair Bob Hunt, there were more than 32,000 people – almost the city’s population – who watched the event.
The crowd was so huge that people lined eight deep in some places along the parade route. With temperatures reaching a high of 95, nearly every inch of shade had at least one parade watcher.
Early arrivals began early to stake out their favorite spots to watch the 109-year-old tradition at 6:30 a.m.
There were many different entries. There were the vintage cars, VIPs, many horses, floats, bands and more. In all there were 200 entries, 19 floats, 12 marching bands and seven musical floats.
From start to finish, the parade lasted just under two hours, ending just before noon. After the finish many continued with Fourth of July activities, talking part at Community Park where they took part in a family festtival and later watched the traditional fireworks show that ended the day with a bang.
The festivities began on Thursday with a Patriotic Sing by elementary school sudents in the Britton Middle School gymnasium. Later that night, thousands filled the downtown streets for the annual Street Dance.
Friday’s festivities began with a pancake breakfast and a 5K run.
People in attendance were friendly and soaked up every moment in the parade.
Tommy Banuelos, a Morgan Hill resident who came from Southern California, said there is more of a community here, something that you can’t get in the big city and that makes the parade even better.
“Seeing all the little kids was cool,” he said. “I enjoyed the bagpipes and all the other bands.”
This year’s grand marshals were active service men and women along with 104-year-old Morgan Hill resident Gerald Lewis who served in both world wars. All active duty personnel who were in town for the parade were asked to participate.
After the singing of the National Anthem by Christine Berulla, the parade began. According to Hunt, it began at one second past 10 a.m.
“Not since ‘79 have we started late,” he said.
The parade saw 200 entries in the parade, with 19 floats. This ties a record set by last year’s parade. The entries ranged from the simple to very elaborate. One of the simplest entries was the waterless car wash. They just pushed a small cart down the parade route. With the help of some free samples, they receive a fair number of cheers from the audience.
There was a fly over by four vintage bi-planes that made two passes. They were 1941 Stearman bi-plane trainers called the Sprit of Freedom Flight.
The planes, organized by Tom Lambrick, awed the crowd and were met with cheers. One was made up of red and white streaks, much like the design of the Japanese flag. The others were yellow, one bore an Army star on its wings.
“Those are so awesome,” said Morgan Hill resident Bob Matts. “They’re gorgeous.”
Members of the California Department of Forestry on board fire engines were among the first ones to go down the road. As they passed the crowd applauded and cheered. The announcer stated that they went first in the event they had to respond to an emergency. They were able to stay for the entire parade.
The placements of the floats were no accident, according to Hunt. He said there needs to be a balance through out the parade. The floats were placed according to impact. This is why Gilroy High School’s band marched before the hometown Live Oak’s Emerald Regime marching band.
While the majority of the entries were low key, there were several elaborately decorated floats that excited the crowd. A float created by the group called the Hood had a 50s theme that featured a massive juke box that opened to release nearly a dozen girls in poodle skirts. Confetti flew as they briefly sang, then ran back in.
The Hood won the top honors at the parade, but winning is nothing new to them. They have taken the grand sweep stakes for the past four years. Hunt describes this as almost unheard of.
The Hood is a group from Shasta Hanchett, an old area of San Jose near the O’Connor Hospital. They had three floats that were put featured together to honor the military.
Despite Christmas being more than five months away, Santa Claus made an appearance. In his Magic Ship of Christmas that parades through Morgan Hill each December, Saint Nick, forgoing his traditional red coat and hat because of the warm weather that would reach into the 90s later that day, excited the crowd.
Seven of the floats were musical to go along with the 12 bands that entered. Bands from across the county came out to play, including three bagpipes.
They seemed to be a crowd favorite as they were cheered as they passed.
One of the pipe bands were the Los Gatos Monte Sereno Police Pipes and Drums. While they have been in events across the Bay Area, this was the first time they had marched in the Morgan Hill parade.
“This was fun,” said piper Casey McKibben. “There was a great crowd, and good people. Everyone cheered. This was the first time that we were here, and we hope to return.”
The Police Pipes played Yankee Doodle and got the crowd applauding.
McKibben was not the only first-timer to the parade. Max Heslington recently moved here from Los Angeles.
“I liked the bagpipes and the bi-planes were cool,” he said. “There were not many parades (in Los Angeles).” He said that parades were not his favorite thing as a child, but not as he is getting older he has change his mind.
“I’m really having lots more fun.”
The route is 1.6 miles long and begins at the Grange on Fourth Street. The parade then files down Monterey Highway, heads up west Main Avenue, passes in front of City Hall, travels down Dunne Avenue and ends at Fifth Street.
While most people came from the Bay Area to watch the parade, some traveled a great distance.
Herbert Popek traveled from Bakersfield to visit his daughter and decided to watch the parade.
“It is very nice,” he said. “I come almost every year. Its a very good parade.”
Popek’s wife, Dorothy, agreed.
“There are a lot of entries,” she said. “There’s lots of variety and that makes it one of the nicest ones.”
Morgan Hill police reported no problems during the parade.
“There were traffic issues and only one arrest,” said Police Chief Jerry Galvin. “It was a good crowd.”
The sole arrest was an unlicensed vendor who became difficult when asked to leave.
Hunt said that the parade could not gone as well as it did were it not for all the people contributing.
“It takes a lot of different people at different places at the same time to make the parade go smoothly.”
Prior to the parade, Independence Day Incorporated, the organizers of the event put out a call for volunteers. Hunt was appreciative to all who donated their time for this event.
Volunteers came from Gilroy, San Jose, Hollister and Morgan Hill. IDI are the ones who organize this event. In all 325 volunteers helped over the two days of festivities.
“Volunteers do it because they love it.” said Hunt. “I would like to thank all the volunteers, including those who helped with the street dance.”
FIREWORKS
The IDI paid for the fireworks display, costing around $10,000. It began approximately half an hour later than scheduled. According to Bruce Tichinin, out going IDI president, the delay was due to high winds.
“It was very frustrating, of course, but we had no choice, for safety reasons, other than to wait,” he said.
Once the winds died down, the display began at community park.
The crowds leaving the fireworks, on foot and by car, clogged Edmundson Avenue. Vehicles were parked on both sides of the road for more than a mile past Community Park. Vehicles parked in the lot at the park were directed to turn right to facilitate the flow of traffic, according to Sgt. David Swing.
“One of our goals is to move the largest amount of people in the safest way in the shortest amount of time,” he said. “Sometimes this means closing roads or redirecting traffic to help traffic move more efficiently. All that is up to the event or incident commander, who develops a plan of how to best handle the situation.”
The winners of this year’s Fourth of July Parade will be included in the next issue of The Times.
Staff Writer Marilyn Dubil contributed to this story.
