Golf carts, Jeeps, antique cars and decorated trucks will roll through the parish on June 28 as residents celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary with a parade and festival.
The St. Charles Parish America250 Parade has drawn 82 registered entries, including veterans’ organizations, community groups, local businesses and elected officials. The celebration will continue after the parade concludes at West Bank Bridge Park, where attendees can enjoy food trucks and live music by Sonny Gullage and the Blues Groovers.
Parish officials said the June 28 event will kick off a week of patriotic festivities leading up to the parish’s 36th annual July 3 Celebration, which will feature live music, food trucks, dancing and what organizers describe as the largest fireworks display in the event’s history.
Councilwoman Michele deBruler, the parade organizer, said the parish’s America250 Committee has been working for many months to come up with ways to celebrate the significant event in history.
“In South Louisiana, we love a good parade to showcase and celebrate good times, good memories and great events, so a parade was in order to celebrate our nation’s 250th birthday,” she said.
The parade is one of several events planned by the parish’s America250 Committee to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Earlier this year, the committee hosted the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra at the Edward A. Dufresne Community Center.
The parish also announced commemorative T-shirts designed to showcase community pride during the historic milestone and the parish reduced the cost of commemorative bricks at Veterans Memorial Plaza from $150 to $50 to honor more parish veterans at the memorial site, which is located next to the Edward A. Dufresne Community Center in Luling.