Patriotism on parade in Arlington Heights

If you were among the countless people who lined the streets of Arlington Heights Monday for the village's annual Independence Day parade, give Carmella Lowth a hand.

Lowth has organized the parade for the last 16 years. It's her job to recruit bands and other potential entertainers, stay in touch with previous participants and figure out the parade order.

With 113 entries in this year's parade, that's no easy task — especially when she has to account and adjust for bands, politicians and other participants who are in more than one Fourth of July parade.

“That's really the hardest part,” Lowth said.

The trick, she explained, is putting people who have to go to another parade early in the Arlington Heights' procession.

“Or if they're coming in from another parade, we try to get them in later,” Lowth said.

Lowth was just one of many suburban residents organizing parades and executing them. Some of the other area suburbs hosting parades Monday were Rolling Meadows, Mount Prospect, Des Plaines, Prospect Heights, Barrington and Hoffman Estates.

They featured the traditional collection of bands, veterans, police officers, firefighters, Girl and Boy Scouts and local, state and federal politicians.

Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn made one parade in the Northwest suburbs, marching in Des Plaines after signing into law a bill changing some election practices.

Arlington Heights' parade started at the corner of Dunton Avenue and Oakton Street and headed south and then east to the Frontier Days festival grounds at Recreation Park. Dunton Street was a particularly popular place to watch the procession, with people covering the parkways along the route with chairs, blankets and canopies.

Barb Ricken took in the parade with her daughters, Nicole and Alyssa. They were sheltered from the morning's blazing sun by some tall trees, thanks to an invitation from a friend who'd claimed the spot Sunday.

“This is nice over here,” Ricken said from her lawn chair. “I have my coffee. I have my chair. This is primo.”

Elsewhere on Dunton, lifelong Arlington Heights resident Bernice Runge enjoyed the parade in front of her house with about a dozen relatives.

“I like to see the tumblers,” Runge, 89, said of Secretary of State Jesse White's famous group of gymnasts. “And the bands.”

Lowth, the parade organizer, isn't paid for her work. It's people like Runge and Ricken who inspire Lowth to take on the responsibility each year.

“It brings a lot of enjoyment to the people in the crowd,” she said. “It's a big party — a village party.”