Miami Valley residents celebrate Independence Day with parades, fireworks

People in Yellow Springs and across the Miami Valley celebrated Independence Day with parades, festivals and fireworks.

Amy Crawford took her family out to the Yellow Springs 4th of July Parade & Fireworks Sunday afternoon to celebrate with the community.

“We live in town and we brought our grandson and we thought he’d enjoy it,” she said.

Crawford said the community is unique and special. She said her grandson, who is 3, enjoyed watching the old cars go by and got lots of candy thrown from the different floats.

The parade began at around 3 p.m. and included residents, community groups, and different organizations. The parade participants were greeted by onlookers with smiles as they waved the American flag

Nayritza Perez said she came to Yellow Springs just to walk around with her group and they learned of the parade just before it began. She was happy that it started.

“We were talking about how today didn’t feel like the Fourth of July but when the parade started it did,” she said.

“It was very nice and we enjoyed it very much,” she said.

She also had a 3-year-old with her. The child enjoyed the horses and also got lots of candy.

And even after the parade ended, the festivities had just begun with plans for fireworks to begin after sundown.

The celebration took place a year after the COVID-19 pandemic canceled many annual events.

About a third of people surveyed nationally plan to attend fireworks or community celebrations this Independence Day, according to recent data from the National Retail Federation. About 8% planned to attend a parade and 61% planned to have a cookout or picnic. Those numbers are close to the 2019 survey results after dips in 2020.

Communities across the Miami Valley celebrated Independence Day throughout the weekend. Fireworks displays filled the skies in Dayton, Huber Heights and New Carlisle. A number of communities shot fireworks off Sunday evening.

The festivities also aren’t over. There’s a parade planned for the Centerville-Washington Township Americana Festival at 10 a.m. Monday.

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