Скачать или смотреть College Hill Fourth of July Bicycle Parade reaches 53rd year

COLLEGE HILL (WKRC) – The Fourth of July. It's a day for celebrating America, spending time with friends and family and maybe going to a parade.

A group of neighbors did all of that in College Hill without even leaving the neighborhood.

You can tell there's a big party in the works at John and Mary Rose's College Hill home. The inflatables are blown up and they're making lemonade by the gallon.

It's all because the Rose's house is the start and finish line for the annual impromptu College Hill Fourth of July Bicycle Parade.

Mary Rose was in the first one, 53 years ago. A neighbor told her bored children to get on their bikes and make their own parade.

“I was the oldest child in the parade and I carried the flag in the first parade and it was probably just 15 kids and we rode bikes and banged cans and I carried the flag,” said Mary Rose of College Hill.

It caught on and it's grown and evolved every year since then.

Now, local children follow a truck playing patriotic songs and parade through the neighborhood on their bikes. It's a few hundred strong every year. College Hillers under 40 can't remember a fourth without it.

Caroline Yaeger did her first parade in a stroller. She's on her bike this year.

“It's just something that we've always done. Like why not do it. You get to see everyone in the neighborhood and to hang out will all your friends and laugh and make memories,” said Caroline.

That sure sounds like a holiday tradition.

On a day when many celebrate America's independence, they often reaffirm their dependence on tradition.

Many people in the parade in College Hill have been there every Fourth of July for as long as they can remember.

“Part of the reason I do it is because it's part of my childhood and I wanted my kids to experience the sense of community,” said Rose.

And in College Hill, that sense of community comes out loud and clear every Fourth of July.