BROOKINGS, S.D. (KELO) — Brookings held their annual Fourth of July parade Saturday with their fireworks show following. They postponed the events due to the weather on Thursday because city officials would rather be safe than sorry.
Many people in the town of Brookings knew that their celebration was going to look a little different with the rainy weather that was predicted for the Fourth of July.
“Well, we heard that it was going to be canceled. It was kind of assumed it would because of the weather. So that’s really a non-issue. And we can’t stop the weather and we love coming to the parade. It’s a great community. It may turn out no matter what. And so it really wasn’t a problem for us. We’re not that far away,” parade attendee Cindy Heemeyer said.
One of the positive aspects of moving the parade to the weekend, is that more people could attend.
“Knowing that other towns have canceled. It’s more like since we’re still having ours and it’s on a weekend. More people could be coming in from those towns to actually see like what our town is like celebrating the Fourth of July,” parade attendee Kaitlin Feldhus said.
Even though the Brookings Fourth of July parade was rescheduled many still came out to celebrate.
“I bring my grandkids and we get free candy,” parade attendee Mike Westendorf said.
“I really think they’ll have an excellent turnout. Brookings is really good about supporting community events,” parade attendee Cindy Heemeyer said.
Even though the celebration was two days later, the community didn’t let that stop the Fourth of July festivities.
“I don’t think it’s too bad. I mean, you can still dress up and have a good time and still celebrate, but you just get an extra day because I know some people celebrated on the fourth, but now you get an extra day to celebrate,” Westendorf said.
“Happy Fourth of July!”
