(Radio Iowa) – Communities across the state are preparing for their annual Independence Day celebrations while also celebrating the country’s 250th birthday. Urbandale has one of the larger celebrations in central Iowa. Sean Dengler is vice president of their planning committee and says their July 4th buttons are a nod the nation’s 250th.
“Every year for many years we sell these buttons to help raise funds for our fireworks, for the Urbandale, 4th of July celebrations, so they are a special commemorative button that highlights our 250th celebration,” Dengler says. He says the number of people attending events this year may be up because of the 250th anniversary and the 4th falling on Saturday.
“I would guess, this is just my gut feeling, just because you know, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, people can take a little time off, people will have the Friday off. Some people will have Friday off due to their jobs being the recognized holiday,” he says. Dengler says they begin the planning meetings in February.
“For my personal experience, when I first joined the committee, I was shocked at how this thing came together so well because I was like, we’re only meeting for like an hour and a half, but everyone kind of knows what they’re doing, locks in, knows what they have to do to make the festival successful,” he says. The Fourth of July parade draws a lot of spectators, and it has developed a tradition where people mark there spots along the route.
*
[dd0629fourth4] :15 :reserving a spot”
*
(as said)”I’ve seen usually a week ahead I’ll maybe see, one or two people maybe have stuff reserved, stuff roped off, maybe some blankets thrown out along the route. But yeah, definitely at least two or three days before people really start putting things out and reserving the spot,” Dengler says. He moved to Urbandale from a small northeast Iowa town and says it was surprising at first to see the parade spots reserved. “People do it plenty of days in advance, more than I I ever would. But yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s a hot commodity. People want to get that good spot for the parade to get that candy and see all the cool floats,” Dengler.
The Urbandale events begin Thursday with a carnival and continue through the fourth with the parade and fireworks.
