Colorful Independence Day parades draw spectators to downtown Melbourne, Merritt Island
Waving a small American flag from a blue Volkswagen Beetle convertible, veteran U.S. Army Specialist Jimmy Green smiled at hundreds of spectators during Melbourne's Fourth of July parade.
Green — the parade's grand marshal — served his country from 1956-57 on the heels of the Korean War.
And by now, the Melbourne 85-year-old thinks he may be the oldest member of American Legion Post 163 in Eau Gallie.
"I love it. This is our birthday. Everybody should celebrate their birthday," Green said after completing the Fourth of July parade route, near the railroad tracks on New Haven Avenue.
"That's the best day of our life," he said.
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Green has been going to Post 163 for 64 years, dating to 1958. That's the year the U.S. launched its first satellite, Explorer 1, into orbit from the Cape.
Sponsored by Post 163, Melbourne's patriotic procession kicked off at 10 a.m. from the Liberty Bell Memorial Museum and headed south on Hickory Street to New Haven Avenue, where hundreds of onlookers lined both sides of the downtown commercial corridor.
Many sought shade: By 10:53 a.m., the mercury had climbed to 87 degrees and the heat index was 93 in Melbourne, the National Weather Service reported.
Dozens of colorful high-performance vehicles dominated the second half of the parade — the Space Coast Mustang Club, Space Coast Vettes and Space Coast Jeep Club motored back-to-back-to-back.
Melbourne's parade highlighted a slate of Independence Day events across the Space Coast. Hours earlier on Monday morning, 977 runners and walkers converged on the Eau Gallie Causeway for the Firecracker 5K.
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The city of Rockledge hosted an Independence Day picnic at McLarty Park. In Cocoa Village, the Brevard Symphony Orchestra was scheduled to perform a free evening Symphony Under the Stars concert at Riverfront Park, followed by a fireworks display.
Likewise, the Melbourne Municipal Band was expected to perform with the Eastminster Presbyterian Church choir in Indialantic.
Melbourne's annual Fourth of July fireworks celebration was set to start at 9 p.m. at Front Street Park, while the city of Titusville organized a Red, White and Boom fireworks show. Viera spectators were slated to see fireworks launched from the USSSA Space Coast Complex.
Monday morning, the Brevard Veterans Memorial Center and Brevard County Sheriff's Office co-hosted Merritt Island's Independence Day parade, which the organizations resurrected in 2019.
World War II veteran George Rosenfield was grand marshal of the Merritt Island holiday parade. The retired major served as a ski trooper in the Army 10th Mountain Division.
BCSO's various units maintained a heavy parade presence, and an array of candidates seeking political office also marched.
“The media has been talking about a lot of Americans holding demonstrations around the country against the Fourth of July because of all the political discourse in the country, the political vitriol," said Donn Weaver, who chairs the Brevard Veterans Council.
"Our intention here is to celebrate the Fourth of July because we allow people to think differently about this country. And that's what our founders wanted. Going back to 1776 and our declaration, this is a celebration of the Fourth of July in all its diversity, in all its differences — in all its political rancor," Weaver said.
"Democracy is not pretty. But it is here because the Fourth of July symbolizes that we had a pretty good group of people who came together to found the country, and create a document that has stood the test of time," he said.
Senior Photographer Malcolm Denemark contributed to this story. Rick Neale is the South Brevard Watchdog Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY (for more of his stories, click here.) Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @RickNeale1
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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Melbourne, Merritt Island July 4 parades draw spectators
