This year’s 4th of July parade in Moorestown will be held on Thursday at noon.
Presented by the township’s July 4th committee, the parade stages on Chester Avenue at the East Central Avenue intersection, and heads up Chester, turns right onto Main Street and continues to Church Street.
Attendees are encouraged to come early and grab lunch at a Moorestown eatery, but are advised to keep all cars off Main Street after 11:30 a.m.
“The (parade) changes its dynamic every year, so if you have a special car or truck, we’d like to have you in the parade,” said Dave Schill, parade committee president.
All veterans in town are invited to ride on the military float and are asked to wear clothing representing their service, such as a ball cap or T-shirt.
“If you’re a veteran, we have a float that carries the veterans,” Schill noted, “and it’s not a political event. So if you’re into politics go somewhere else .. If you’re a member of the Moorestown Improvement Association or the garden club, then you’re welcome to march with them.”
The parade theme is Grand Old Flag. Every year the committee sponsors a poster contest for local kids from 5 to 9 years old. The winners will ride in a place of honor in the parade and all qualifying entries will be displayed at the Moorestown library. All civic and community groups are welcome to march for free, but should register ahead of time.
“We have a family marching unit where children can decorate their wagons, their bikes, their scooters, and that whole unit will be marching as one with their parents,” Schill explained. “We have committee members stationed on all four corners of that unit to keep them from running into an act in front of them or lagging behind.
“We have custom vehicles,” he added. “We have the South Philadelphia String Band coming in full uniform … We don’t have prizes or insist people comply with the theme. We mainly do that for the freedom poster contest for the young children, to focus on something.”
The 4th of July committee will also offer a quiet zone along the holiday parade route to accommodate those with sensory issues, hearing aids, pets, young children and PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). The zone will be on Chester Avenue, from Central Avenue to Main Street, where fire trucks will not blare their sirens or honk their horns and musical groups will play at a reduced volume.
“This year it’s something new that Chester Avenue has been designated a Quiet Zone for the hearing impaired… We’ve already put the word out and we’ve gotten a lot of positive responses about that.”
The parade returned in 2011 after its prior committee was disbanded, and it’s a tradition Schill hopes to see continue indefinitely.
“If we don’t celebrate our freedom, shame on us,” he observed. “And this is the only event in town that officially does that. If I’m gone, I don’t care what the next committee president does, but as a veteran, a war veteran, we need to celebrate our freedom.”
The parade relies entirely on volunteers and donations. To give, visit www.moorestown4thjuly.org.
“It is now a tradition here in town,” Schill said of the parade. “The crowd is getting bigger and bigger; they want to be here … We like to put on the show for the people.
“We need to celebrate our freedom, and this is the only thing in town that does that.”
