The air was filled with patriotism and lots of candy this morning as Ocean Grove celebrated Independence Day with its annual parade.
Adults and children lined the streets along the parade’s route, many of them armed with bags and baskets to catch the candy that was thrown from almost every truck, car and float that passed by.
Four-year-old Christian Degnan came up from Jupiter, Fla., with his mother, Nancy, to watch the parade. He said he was most looking forward to the red original Volkswagen Beetle, which was driven by Vincent Kulik on behalf of the Ocean Grove beach patrol and lifeguards.
“It’s got 26 pounds of candy in it,” his mother said.
Farther down Stockton Avenue, the McGovern family was throwing a party with almost 80 people. Their home sits right on the parade route, so they can see everything from their porch. They got into the Independence Day spirit by strapping a giant American flag to their roof with bungee cords [pictured above, right].
The McGoverns have lived in Ocean Grove since 1993, Holly McGovern said, and have thrown this party every year since.
“Getting everybody together is the best part,” McGovern said.
She was “a little nervous” this morning because the weather was rainy until about 9:30 a.m., but skies were sunny again by 10, just in time for the parade to kick off at 10:30.
“It always clears up,” she said. “Since we’ve been here, there has never been a parade that’s rained out. It rains just before it and just after, but never during the parade.”
The parade was full of marching bands, bagpipers, floats and fire trucks, but one musical act stood apart from the rest — a kazoo band sponsored by Day’s Ice Cream.
Before the parade started, the kazoo crew was lined up and ready to go, with their ringleader, Heather McLaughlin, at the helm for the seventh year straight. She started the kazoo band as a way of getting her friends and family together on the Fourth, with about 40 people. Now, the kazoo band counts 147 members in its ranks.
“We don’t have a backyard so we can’t have a barbecue,” she said. “Instead, we get everyone together and make them walk around Ocean Grove every year.”
What McLaughlin wasn’t expecting this morning was a marriage proposal, which she received while waiting for the parade to start.
“Not just from some random guy,” she said with a laugh. “From my boyfriend. I said yes.”
Every participant in the kazoo band gets a Day’s Ice Cream T-shirt in red or blue, a sandwich, a soda, a kazoo and some free ice cream afterward.
A sousaphone-player keeps the kazoo-ers in tune and time, McLaughlin said — “otherwise, we’d just sound like a big crowd of bees swarming around Ocean Grove.”
They play classics like “The Star-Spangled Banner,” “You’re A Grand Old Flag,” “Yankee Doodle” and “The Imperial Death March” from Star Wars.
The parade started on Whitefield Avenue before turning east along Main Avenue to Central Avenue.
The festivities in Ocean Grove aren’t over yet. Tonight, the Great Auditorium hosts an Independence Day concert with Dr. Gordon Turk and Michael Stairs performing “Storms & Thunder, Stripes & Pipes” at 7:30 p.m.
For an album of photos from the parade on the Sun’s Facebook page, click here.
