Suburbs celebrate Fourth of July, including return of parade in Highland Park

Thousands of revelers clad in red, white and blue lined dozens of Fourth of July parade routes throughout the suburbs Thursday.

That included in Highland Park, where a community parade returned to downtown streets two years after a mass shooting left seven spectators dead and 48 others wounded.

Last year’s commemoration included a remembrance walk along the traditional parade route, where attendees entered through metal detectors at security checkpoints.

This year’s parade was scaled back and followed a different route, but included many elements of the parades of old — community organizations and businesses on decorated floats, kids riding bicycles with patriotic trim, and pets adorned in festive outfits.

Gabriel Natenshon of Highland Park was among those watching along the parade route at Laurel Avenue and Green Bay Road.

Now in college, he said it was the first time he hadn’t marched in the parade. He rode his bike in it when he was a kid, then performed in it with the Highland Park High School marching band. The marching band was near the site of the 2022 shooting.

“I think a lot of people are still in ‘remembrance,’ and it can be really traumatizing for a lot of people to be at an event like this, if they were at the 2022 parade,” Natenshon said. “I'm really hoping to change my memory of this holiday, today.”

Natenshon watched from the sidewalk Thursday with friends, including Zach Katznelson, who also was marching with the band when the shooting happened two years ago.

The day started on a somber note at Edgewood Middle School, where hundreds filled the auditorium for a remembrance ceremony that included remarks from Mayor Nancy Rotering and victims’ family members, along with prayers from faith leaders and musical tributes. Before the ceremony, U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth met privately with victims’ families and survivors.

“We come forth today hoping that we as a community can remember and honor the lives lost, the people who have been impacted forevermore through grievous injuries, those who’ve been traumatized,” Rotering told reporters Thursday morning.

“But I also feel like we have an obligation to this community’s children, in particular. In the aftermath of July 4, 2022, one of the third graders who came through city hall asked me, ‘Do we ever get to celebrate the Fourth of July again?’ and I said, ‘Absolutely.’ So today is the first step,” Rotering added.

A host of other community parades, festivals and fireworks displays were held Thursday, from northern suburbs like Antioch and Lake Zurich, to places south including Aurora and Yorkville.

One of the bigger parades was in Arlington Heights, which followed a route that ended at Recreation Park — site of one of the largest summer festivals in the suburbs, Frontier Days.

The tree-lined sidewalks were densely packed, and children, many wearing patriotic colors, frequently scrambled for candy tossed in their direction.

In Elgin, the day started with a pet parade — the first in at least a dozen years. It featured about 30 dogs, cats and a pair of snakes.

Wearing blue sunglasses and a mini-Uncle Sam hat, a dog named Dolan was “The First Official Supreme Chancellor of the Elgin Midwest 4th of July Pet Parade Grand Marshal” — so appointed via a social media contest.

Parade watchers included Aliyah Carthen, 7, of Elgin, who swooned over the dogs, but admitted she was “hoping to see a cheetah.”

A very light rain Thursday morning went largely unnoticed by the thousands who lined Douglas Avenue for the 9 a.m. main event. More than 70 entries and about a dozen performing groups included the Crystal Lake Strikers and Jesse White Tumblers, the latter of which drew plenty of “oohs” and “aahs” for their highflying routines.

“They’re my favorites every time I see them,” said Maria Espinoza, who kept her phone camera trained on the tumblers. “Those kids can fly.”

· Daily Herald staff writers Joe Lewnard and Rick West contributed to this report.