SUBMITTED BY Cliff LaRocque
The Annual 4th. Of July Parade has deep roots and history in our West Park Community.
Forty-two years ago in 1968, the Cub Scouts from our Lady of Angels under the guidence of then Cub Scout Master of Troop 182 Bill Waters, with help from Jim Stanton, Mike Wulk and Jack Lavelle, stepped off for the 1st ever parade with “Floats” fashioned out of coaster wagons along with many neighborhood participants. The following year the Boy Scouts from the Our Lady of Angels Troop 82 also became involved. The Parade flourished and grew larger every year for the next 19 years. The Parade became to large for the Scouts to logistically maintain. The Parade almost became obsolete when Howard Schreibman, a West Park Kiwanian, stepped in and convinced his fellow West Park Kiwanians to sponsor and continue the parade. Since then the Parade has continued to be an annual Community event of great importance for the last 23 years.
Last year’s Parade featured well over a hundreds registrations that covered over a mile and a half in length and viewed by 18,000 people.
The Parade is the largest Independence day Parade in the city of Cleveland and it gets better every year.
To Day (5/11/21)
-PARADE IS 51 YEARS OLD
-CUBS ARE 19 YEARS OLD
-KIWANIS 32 YEARS OLD