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News / Clark County News

Felida’s Fun Fourth: Community embraces popular children’s parade

By Susan Parrish, Columbian Education Reporter
Published: July 2, 2014, 12:00am
4 Photos
Wearing red, white and blue and waving a small American flag, Cassandra Knobeloch prepares for the July 4th Felida Children's Parade in 2003.
Wearing red, white and blue and waving a small American flag, Cassandra Knobeloch prepares for the July 4th Felida Children's Parade in 2003. Hundreds of participants, most decked out in Old Glory's colors, walked or biked the parade route. Photo Gallery

• What: 19th annual July 4th Felida Children’s Parade and activities.

• When: Parade lineup at 10:45 a.m. Friday. Activities in park continue until 2:30 p.m.

• Where: Felida Community Park, Northwest 127th Street west of 36th Avenue.

• Parade route: Begins and ends in Felida Community Park at the Northwest 127th Street north gate. Parade goes north on Northwest 39th Avenue, west on Northwest 131st Street, south on Northwest 47th Avenue, east on Northwest 127th Street.

• Guidelines: No motorized vehicles, political campaigns, candy or selling in the parade. All riders must wear helmets. No fireworks.

Boundaries:

• North: Salmon Creek.

• South: Northwest 105th Street.

• East: Interstate 5.

• West: Lake River.

• Contact: Milada Allen, Felida Neighborhood Association chair, 360-573-4030.

It takes a village to organize the July 4th Felida Children’s Parade.

More specifically, it takes a village of more than 150 volunteers from 6 to 92 years old to pull off the annual parade that begins and ends at Felida Community Park.

This year marks the 19th year that kids have decorated their bikes, trikes and wagons with red, white and blue to pedal through the neighborhood. Afterward, families gather at the park for free hot dogs and hamburgers cooked by Salmon Creek Lions Club members.

Kids play games and earn points for prizes. They ride in an antique fire truck courtesy of Fire District 6. Families spread picnic blankets and lawn chairs to listen to “Stars and Stripes Forever” and other patriotic Sousa marches played by the Vancouver Community Concert Band.

“It’s as close to an old-fashioned Fourth of July as you can get in an urban setting,” said neighborhood volunteer Terry Allen.

Of the 17,000 people living within the boundaries of the Felida neighborhood, about 4,500 attend the annual July Fourth parade, said Milada Allen, president of the neighborhood association for the past nine years.

Milada and Terry Allen were among the Felida neighbors who sat around a picnic table at the park on June 24 discussing parade details.

These neighbors, along many other dedicated volunteers from the Salmon Creek Lions Club, Family of Christ Lutheran Church, Boy Scouts and others provided sweat equity to help develop the park in 2003. More than 200 volunteers planted 4,000 trees and other vegetation and spread 450 cubic yards of bark dust. The 14-acre Felida Community Park has become a community hub. That’s especially true on July Fourth.

Allen Jaffe, 75, is credited as being one of the founders of the first Fourth of July parade in 1996. Jaffe is a longtime member of Family of Christ Lutheran Church, which organized and staged the parade in those early years. He explained their impetus for organizing that first parade.

“What do you do with the kids from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., before it gets dark enough for fireworks?” Jaffe said.

Jaffe and the other volunteers organized a nonmotorized parade for the kids. On July 3, kids came to the church and decorated their bikes, trikes and wagons. After the parade, the Salmon Creek Lions cooked hamburgers and hot dogs for the kids at the church. Jaffe also is a member of the Salmon Creek Lions Club.

That first year, about 40 kids participated. Over the years, it grew to about 250 kids, he said. The parade had outgrown the church. When the park was finished in 2003, it made sense to move the parade to the park, Jaffe said.

The Felida Neighborhood Association had been involved with the parade from the beginning. Although the church continued volunteering with the parade, church volunteers asked the neighborhood association to take the lead in organizing the parade, and Felida neighbors stepped up, adding activities and partners to help. This year, church volunteers will distribute 800 bottles of water along the parade route.

On July Fourth, some volunteers arrive at the park at 7 a.m. to prepare for the parade and activities.

“There’s a lot to do,” Jaffe said. “We all pitch in as a team.”

&#8226; What: 19th annual July 4th Felida Children's Parade and activities.

&#8226; When: Parade lineup at 10:45 a.m. Friday. Activities in park continue until 2:30 p.m.

&#8226; Where: Felida Community Park, Northwest 127th Street west of 36th Avenue.

&#8226; Parade route: Begins and ends in Felida Community Park at the Northwest 127th Street north gate. Parade goes north on Northwest 39th Avenue, west on Northwest 131st Street, south on Northwest 47th Avenue, east on Northwest 127th Street.

&#8226; Guidelines: No motorized vehicles, political campaigns, candy or selling in the parade. All riders must wear helmets. No fireworks.

“There’s a lot of synergy,” Milada Allen said. “Even one person can make a huge difference if you get involved.”

Jaffe, who helps kids line up for the parade, said, “I used to count the kids, but now I can’t keep track of all of them.”

“This venue gives the kids a sense of history, about what the day really means,” said Don Holly, one of the dozen or so Salmon Creek Lions who will be flipping burgers on July Fourth.

When the activities conclude at 2:30 p.m., some families will head to Fort Vancouver for the big fireworks show. Others will go home for their own barbecue and fireworks.

Boundaries:

&#8226; North: Salmon Creek.

&#8226; South: Northwest 105th Street.

&#8226; East: Interstate 5.

&#8226; West: Lake River.

&#8226; Contact: Milada Allen, Felida Neighborhood Association chair, 360-573-4030.

Then volunteers get to work cleaning up.

“We live here too,” said Terry Allen. “I can’t think of any place I’d rather be on the Fourth of July than here with the kids.”

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Columbian Education Reporter