The annual Fourth of July Kirkwood Parade will be held at 5 p.m. on Saturday, July 4 beginning on Independence Drive Road between Princess Ann Street and Delaware Avenue, just like this was not 2020 when everything is cancelled.
There are reports that the parade this year will mainly be a car parade, but if people get out in the street to march, well, what can anyone do.
In fact, one long time Kirkwood resident said that the reason the parade would be held was that there was no one with the authority to call it off. It began as a spontaneous event in 1949, and despite efforts by some over the years to tame it, the parade has remained delightfully unorganized.
This is an election year, so with campaign rallies and events mostly cancelled, there may be an unusual number of candidates riding in the parade.
The late Congressman Howard Coble was a regular participant in the parade for 30 years, but as most people know, Congressman Coble loved a parade.
Sixth District Congressman Mark Walker participated when the area was in his district, and when the area moved to the 13th District, Congressman Ted Budd not only rode in the parade but stayed long afterward enjoying Kirkwood’s hospitality.
Even with the paucity of possible campaign events this year, the Kirkwood Parade is not on the official campaign schedule of either President Donald Trump or the presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
Someone else who sadly won’t be at the Kirkwood Parade is Bob Carlson, who died in 2015 after being the life of the parade for decades. Bob Carlson always had something special up his sleeve for the parade. Once it was a bicycle built for eight, which sadly turned out to be un-rideable. Another one of his many stunts was traveling the parade route on water skis with wheels, propelled by a fan and a makeshift sail.
