EVERETT — Just minutes before Everett’s annual Fourth of July parade was to begin, the rain started falling. Some people hurried for cover, others pulled out umbrellas. Some just waited. It stopped as quickly as it began, and didn’t dampen this year’s installment, dubbed the Colors of Freedom.
It’s been 240 years since the 13 colonies declared their freedom from Great Britain, one of the world’s most powerful empires at the time, choosing to chart their own courses. America’s changed mightily and in many ways since then.
Waiting in the parade’s staging area, Dr. Sara Mayes’ iguanas — Sid and Lizzie — seemed completely ignorant of the long history behind the day’s celebration. For iguanas, it was just another Monday.
“Lizzie knows we’re celebrating something,” because it wasn’t the 19-year-old’s first parade, said Mays, a veterinarian and medical director at the Broadway Animal Hospital.
Hospital staff and their patients’ owners were among the dozens of groups that walked, marched, twirled, sashayed, skipped, rode and rolled in the parade. Participants included the usual: Boy Scouts, cheer teams, vintage car collectors and political campaigns. And the not-so-expected: iguanas, a mariachi band and a Zamboni.
Mike Benton was riding in the Everett Silvertips’ Zamboni, a big, brick-shaped vehicle that is typically used to create a smooth sheet of ice at skating rinks. The Silvertips have tricked theirs out to carry people. It’s dubbed the “Fanboni.” What does a Zamboni or the Silvertips have to do with American independence?
“Americans work and play, and we’re part of the play,” Benton said.
Also, hockey’s popularity is growing faster than any other major sport in the U.S., he said.
The Tips weren’t the only sports team represented in the parade.
Seahawks boosters walked the route, working hoots and cheers from the hundreds of people lining the way.
The boosters were the parade’s most patriotic group, said 11-year-old Cody Pickett. “They’re one of America’s best teams, and people here really like them.”
Few things unite people around Puget Sound more than the ‘Hawks.
And few people right now are more the focus of debate than Donald Trump, who’s running for the White House. His supporters drove a pickup and trailer festooned with campaign banners exhorting voters to “Make America Great Again.” One Trump backer, John Dammarell, jogged alongside the truck, handing out little American flags.
“I must have given out 300 flags, at least,” the former Marine said as he caught his breath at the end of the parade.
The parade was “tremendous!” he said.
Jaylah Cage marched as one of the more than 100 blue-sequined members of Dolls and Gents Drill Team and Drumline.
The 8-year-old and her teammates tapped their way down Everett’s streets, just as they rehearsed in their nearly year-round practice schedule.
“It’s our first parade” this year, she said. “It’s really fun.”
The Dolls and Gents are going into parade season. That means at least one, and usually two performances every weekend, said Jasmine Wiggins, one of the Seattle group’s directors.
The group is part of a martial musical tradition in America that stretches back to Valley Forge and even earlier. During a bitter winter at Valley Forge, American colonists learned to march and drill as professional soldiers, and the U.S. Army’s oldest active unit, the 3rd Regiment, includes the Fife and Drum Corps.
So, what thread of America did the Dolls and Gents represent in Monday’s parade?
“We represent the children of America,” Wiggins said. “We represent the idea that no matter what happens in your school life or in your home life, you can always count on community and mentors to help you through life.”
Watching from a sidewalk, 2-year-old Elijah Didok danced to the Dolls and Guys drums and to other music groups.
His favorite part? “The dancers,” he said.
So, which of the dozens of parade groups best represented America on its birthday?
“They’re all representing what they believe in,” said Leo Didok, Elijah’s dad, who moved to the U.S. from Ukraine at 10. “To them, that’s what America means. To me, it might be something different.”
Dan Catchpole: 425-339-3454; dcatchpole@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @dcatchpole.
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