As the smell of cooked meat wafted past red-white-and-blue-clad passerby on the Lakefront, Juan Cruz was going through the motions of a familiar process. Dressed in a white tank top and navy shorts, the Elgin resident flipped three thin slices of skirt steak on a charcoal grill, the smoke of the barbeque billowing out around him.
“We have to eat,” he said, motioning to the shiny aluminum pans splayed on a folding table with corn and seasoned chicken. “We stay here until the fireworks.”
Cruz was cooking for his family members, who were scattered behind him in mosquito-proof tents and patterned picnic blankets, for their annual Fourth of July gathering – a tradition that has persisted since the 1980s.
Today most do not currently live in Evanston anymore, with Cruz himself driving from an hour away and others arriving from as far as Texas. But for them, any trip is worth continuing to see Evanston’s annual firework show.
“It only happens once a year,” Cruz said. “It’s ride or die.”
The fireworks are the culminating event of Evanston’s Fourth of July Association’s annual celebration. This year the event featured 76 performances, with groups ranging from mariachi bands to advocacy organizations marching down Central Street for the thousands who attended.
Although the festivities are popular among Evanston residents, Cruz and his family are among the hundreds of out-of-town visitors who flock to the city to observe the holiday, each with their own motivations.
Former Evanston resident Ernie Norrman has visited the parade nearly every year for decades. For him, there is no better way to celebrate: the parade is the best in the Chicagoland area, he said.
“I really think that the parade is the event that happens to be on the Fourth of July,” Norrman, a Vietnam War veteran, said.
As one of Norrman’s favorite performances, the Chicago-based acrobatics group Jesse White Tumbling Team, flipped by in swirling red streaks, he said the “variety” of the attractions in particular makes the commute from his new home in Chicago worthwhile year after year.
This year has been especially special, he said, with the event providing a source of optimism for him amid political turmoil.
“I consider myself very patriotic, but it has been very difficult to be patriotic recently,” he said. “This is one of the highlights.”
Near the mouth of the attraction, Traci Britton of Wadsworth relaxed into a black lawn chair with her name emblazoned on the back in white lettering.
Britton, 62, was introduced to the Fourth of July parade after her son moved to Evanston. Now in her third year of attending, she said the spectacle has become more than a family get-together: it is a chance to become one with the Evanston community.
“Whether you are a resident or non-resident, you feel welcomed,” she said. “There is no litmus test for neighbors.”
Britton said she felt particularly connected to the city this year after placing her seat a day in advance for the first time since she started attending – a longstanding Evanston custom. This community spirit, she said, drives her and her family to continue coming.
“We’ve been coming here for three years, and I’d like to say that we’ll continue to come here to be a part of this parade and to be a part of the neighborhood,” she said.
As the event started, and the sound of clapping erupted with the sirens of the Evanston police motorcycle troupe, Britton reflected on the meaning of Fourth of July.
“It boils down to those core principles: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” she said. “I think we’re living that here.”
