“My daughter has a saying, ‘You do you,’ and that’s what we’re trying to provide. You do you,” he said. “If you want to come for the parade and come back for the concert, cool. If you want to come for the activities between the parade and the concert, cool, too.”
When the 2022 parade steps off at the Butler County Fairgrounds, people will have been lined along the route for at least an hour beforehand. The route will be about four blocks longer as it goes across the High-Main Bridge and ends on Main Street at F Street, making the parade a full 2 miles.
The Patriotic Program will be held at the Fitton Center and begins after the parade (scheduled for 11:30 a.m.). This event will feature Mayor Pat Moeller, as well as the Hamilton Concert Band and Queen City Sisters.
Also after the parade, or in some cases, during the parade, there will be official July 4th activities. People can visit the Butler County Soldiers, Sailors & Pioneers Monument, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. From 1 to 4 p.m., they can visit a historic log cabin or the Butler County Historical Society. Heritage Hall will be open from noon to 4 p.m.
But they can do none of that and patronize one of the open businesses High and Main streets, or leave and come back for the concerts and fireworks display. Several businesses plan to offer extras, like DJs to entertain people and patrons downtown, according to the committee.
The RiversEdge concerts kick off at 7 p.m. with The Inturns performing at 7 p.m. and That Arena Rock Show at 8:30 p.m. The annual fireworks show starts at 10 p.m.
“One of the things that I think’s important is we need to consider High and Main streets at one,” said Greater Hamilton Chamber of Commerce Dan Bates. “Anytime we can do something that includes the entire downtown strip, I think it’s positive, I think it’s the right thing to do, I think it’s where we’re headed.”
Though the parade is a huge draw as it’s fun and family-friendly, there weren’t many, if any, businesses open during past July 4th festivities. As businesses are encouraged to open for at least a limited number of hours, Bates said, “It’s an opportunity to pick up where they have not in the past, and the more we can keep people here once they get here, the more everyone benefits.”
“It’s a day-long event,” he said. “They can show up, have fun, go home and have your own barbecue, come back. It is a do-your-own-thing event, but we’re going to try to have something from 10 a.m. until the fireworks are over.”
There won’t be a return of the Taste of Hamilton along High Street, Schwable said, which hasn’t been happened in a few years, but there will be food trucks for the concerts at Marcum Park
The theme for this year’s 4th of July is “Celebrating Family,” and the committee said in a statement that while they honor veterans, military members, police officers, firefighters, and emergency medical workers, “we also want to acknowledge, thank, and celebrate the families that support them. These families sacrifice for everyone else’s benefit. Missed dinners, missed school programs, missed birthdays, missed births and deaths, long absences from home and the ever-present danger of the job.”
Volunteers and parade entries (the deadline for entries is June 23) are still being sought, said Schwable. For information on both, visit the committee’s website, www.hamiltonjuly4th.org.
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