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GALLERY: Kids’ Day leads the fun before 4th festivities

  • Miss Fourth of July Riley Quade, 6 (Charles City) and Mister Fourth of July Max Klesath, 7 (Nora Springs) lead a parade of bikes, trikes, kids and parents during Monday morning's Kids Day festivities. Miss and Mister Fourth of July are picked randomly by State Bank from a list of applicants ranging from preschool to fourth grade. Press photos by Kate Hayden

  • A crowd of families marches up north Main Street at the start of the Kids' Day Parade Monday morning.

  • An estimated 800 participants or more joined the Kids' Day Parade and Central Park celebrations, Chamber of Commerce event coordinator Erica Wipperling said.

  • Day camp participants with SOAR — School's Out At Rockford — came to Kids' Day festivities on Monday in Charles City. SOAR offers all-day field trips and activities during the summer, and before/after school activities or supervision during the school year, volunteer Fallon Marth said.

  • The Charles City Shining Stars perform in Central Park on Monday morning, coached by Marla Rima.

  • Leah Darst of the Minnesota Zoo shows off one of her nocturnal companions during a short exhibit at Central Park.

  • Harper Hagarty, 5, examines a turtle at the Floyd County Conservation booth in Central Park.

  • Brothers Carson Linde, 8, and Elliott Linde, 6, spray their target at the Charles City Fire Department's waterball game station in front of the Charles City Arts Center.

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By Kate Hayden, khayden@charlescitypress.com

They came in groups of twos and fours and many mores.

Main Street came alive in Charles City during the annual Kids’ Day Parade with a crowd of bikes, trikes, stollers and hundreds of kids dressed in their patriotic best.

Miss 4th of July Riley Quade, 6, and Mister 4th of July Max Klesath, 7, led a small marching drum corp, a police escort and several business mascots around two blocks, starting and ending the march at Central Park.

Quade, of Charles City, and Klesath, of Nora Springs, will march in the Independence Day Parade  Tuesday with State Bank. Miss and Mister 4th of July is open to children in preschool to fourth grade, and is sponsored through the bank’s Giant Piggy Bank program, customer service representative Kendra Harris told the Press.

After the waves of families finished marching by 11 a.m., the Charles City Shining Stars provided main stage entertainment with routines they began practicing in May, coach Marla Rima told the crowd.

Later, Leah Darst of the Minnesota Zoo provided an hour-long showcase of some of the smaller animals on exhibit in Apple Valley, Minn.

This year’s lead-up to Independence Day celebrations is shorter than in previous years, Chamber events coordinator Erica Wipperling said. The holiday’s calendar placement on a Tuesday instead of Monday meant organizers didn’t have a full weekend to schedule activities around, and organizers saw fewer volunteers this year than in years past.

“We did eliminate some stuff, such as the All-American Family Activities Day in the park,” Wipperling said.

Organizers brought in two bands for Monday night, PV & the Phantoms and the Plott Hounds, to keep Monday’s schedule full for families.

Endless Summer will be returning to Charles City on Tuesday following the Independence Day parade. The municipal band concert begins at 7:30 p.m. behind the Charles City Public Library, and fireworks will start over the Cedar River at 10 p.m.

More photos of the 2017 Independence Day celebrations can be found at the Charles City Press Photo Rewind.

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