Mile-Long Parade headlines Northbrook 4th of July events
The clock is ticking down - it really is, you can see it on the Northbrook 4th of July website - to the village's Independence Day events, all back in action.
Postponed two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Northbrook's Mile-Long Parade returns, starting at 2:30 p.m. Monday at Cherry Lane and Western Avenue.
All those entries representing local businesses, community and political groups, performers and the like head east until they make a hairpin right-hand turn at Shermer Road, and follow that south until the route ends nearly at Walters Avenue. The Mile-Long Parade is about an hour long.
The parade marshal this year is Jesse Compher, the Northbrook hockey player who played forward for the USA Women's Olympic Hockey Team that earned a silver medal earlier this year. She also just watched her brother, J.T. Compher, a forward for the Colorado Avalanche, help his team win the Stanley Cup on June 26.
A bike parade for kids and parents will run that same course as the Mile-Long Parade starting at 2:15, but with a staging tent that opens at 1 p.m. at Cherry Lane and Western Avenue. There is registration information and other guidelines available at the holiday website, northbrook4thofjuly.com. Information on all the village's Independence Day events may be found at the website as well.
Northbrook Park District board President Mary Ann Chambers has called the Mile-Long Parade "the highlight of summer in Northbrook," but it is one of many options on Monday.
Some people will run the Liberty Loop 5K Run/Walk, which gets going at Techny Prairie Park & Fields at 7:30 a.m. As of Monday night there were still well over 200 openings available.
Online registration ($20 for people ages 6-13, $30 for ages 14 and up) is available at the park district website, nbparks.org, until noon on July 1. Thereafter, registration will be held from 6:15-7 a.m. Monday, race day, at the Techny Prairie Activity Center, 180 Anets Drive. For information, call (847) 291-2993.
There's also a "Liberty Lap" Fun Run for youngsters at 8:30 a.m.
Hungry runners and walkers may return to join people already at the Rotary Club of Northbrook's breakfast at Village Green Park from 7:30-11 a.m.
That's a good vantage point to watch another Northbrook tradition on the Fourth, the softball game between members of the Northbrook Police Department against the Northbrook Fire Department, from 10 a.m. to noon at the Village Green ballfield.
The Northbrook Historical Museum opened on the United States bicentennial, July 4, 1976, in the former Northfield Inn, right there at 1776 Walters Ave. Now relatively clear of the pandemic, the Northbrook Historical Society will again keep the museum open for visits during the Rotary Club breakfast from 9 a.m.-noon.
After the Mile-Long Parade people are on their own - until they regroup for the fireworks at Meadowhill Park, 1479 Maple Ave.
Starting at 7 p.m., there will be music at the Ed Rudolph Velodrome, along with food to order at the Chalet. The fireworks may be viewed from Meadowhill Park and Techny Prairie Park & Fields starting at dusk.
It all makes for a long, but fun, day.
"This year we are honoring not only our great country," Northbrook Village President Kathryn Ciesla said, "but also the strength of our community."