Because of road construction on Lake Michigan Drive, the Allendale Township Fourth of July Parade will wind through Grand Valley State University's Allendale Campus.
The parade will begin at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, July 4, in parking lots M and N (near the Calder Art Center). The route ¿ to be led by retiring GVSU President Arend D. Lubbers and his wife, Nancy, as grand marshals ¿ will travel north on Campus Drive to the Fieldhouse, through parking lots F and G, across West Campus Drive to 42nd Street and return to Lot N.
Lubbers, who will retire on June 30, said he was happy to cooperate with our neighbors and offer the campus as a parade site. In past years, the Independence Day parade had traveled on Lake Michigan Drive to Allendale Township Park on 68th Avenue.
State Rep. Barbara Vander Veen (R-Allendale) is expected to walk the parade route. Other highlights will include antique vehicles, kids on bicycles, winner of the Miss Allendale Contest, and horseback riders.
Parade participants and viewers will enjoy a 30-minute concert on the Cook Carillon by Julianne Vanden Wyngaard, GVSU's carillonneur, beginning at 9:30 a.m.
Vanden Wyngaard will also participate in a nationwide, simultaneous bell-ringing on the Cook Carillon at 2 p.m. on July 4. Let Freedom Ring 2001 will be initiated at the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia; other participating sites include Arlington National Cemetery, Old North Church in Boston, West Point Chapel, and the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. Following the bell ringing, Vanden Wyngaard will play a short concert of patriotic songs.
