So after an ear-splitting flyover by an Oregon Air National Guard fighter, Ridgefield’s Fourth of July parade stepped off for its annual march through Clark County’s quaintest central business district.

“It’s a really fun parade!” said Leora Stevens of Ridgefield, who convinced her husband, Chuck, to accompany her. Chuck said he prefers to fish on the Fourth, but the fact that two of their granddaughters were riding in the parade proved irresistible.

As the hourlong parade wound its way down Pioneer Street, it was obvious that almost everyone in the crowd knew someone in the parade.

It was the kind of event where people bring lawn chairs with hand-crocheted seats; they set them out early to get a front-row view. The children push through to grab the candy strewn about by nearly every parade entrant.

It was all you could want from a parade. Yes, there were the Ridgefield Little League All-Stars and the Ridgefield Garden Club, which is celebrating its 70th anniversary.

And there were some unexpected moments too: Jake and Elwood Blues were there, driving their scruffy cop car, followed by little Blues Brothers pulling cop car red wagons.

Small-town parades always feature politicians. But in this one, the mayor and a quorum of city council members rode bikes with red, white and blue crepe paper in the spokes. They wore the kind of Uncle Sam hats that are only fashionable on one day of the year.

Heather Giberson, a 4-H teen ambassador from Battle Ground, walked most of the parade route in order to let kids pet one of her fancy chickens. “One almost tore the feathers off!” she said afterward.

The biggest ovation went to a float carrying members of the armed forces. It received a standing ovation from the parade-watchers perched on the sloping View Ridge Middle School lawn.

At the end, after all the antique tractors and old cars with names like Galaxie 500, Invicta and Torino, after Miss Outstanding Clark County Teen Cassandra Orefice and the God’s Word Baptist Church float, many of the crowd moved on to Abrams Park for a community picnic sponsored by the Lions Club.

In a county of more than 424,000 people, the small town lives on

CRAIG BROWN can be reached at craig.brown@columbian.com or 360-735-4514.