Warwick Beacon photos by Kathy Eisemann

What a group of friends started as a fun thing to do on July 4th 27 years ago has become a neighborhood event that continues to bring out the red, white and blue plus a lot of colorfully decorated vehicles from bicycles to lawn tractors. Of course, there have been changes with perhaps the most noticeable being that now some of the kids who marched in the first years of the parade have marching kids of their own. One stable is the flag dating to the administration of President Grover Cleveland owned by Jack and Lillian Clegg. The 45-star flag was carried this year by members of Pack 1 Warwick. As has been the practice in recent times, the parade formed and ended at the parking lot to the former Our Lady of Providence Seminary at the Aldrich Mansion. For many years it ended at the home of Bill and Madeline Nixon overlooking Greenwich Bay. The Nixons joined the line of march and Presto Strange O Coffee shop based on Warwick Neck provided free ice coffee and lemonade to the participants.