Celebrating Independence

There were cheerleaders and bagpipers. Veterans and Boy Scouts. Motorcycles and marching bands.

And everything red, white and blue.

Towns all over the county celebrated America's birthday yesterday with parades and community events.

In Willingboro, Larry Pagani covered his bicycle with flashing lights and American flags. Pagani said he had watched the Willingboro parade for more than 30 years, and this time he decided to be part of the action.

“We decided this year we'd get in it,” he said. “Have a little fun.”

He towed his 3-year-old granddaughter, Jaylen Clarke, behind him and rode alongside his 11-year-old grandson, Gregory Pagani.

In the parade, there were plenty of decorated bikes, cars and floats. There were even decorated horses.

Kandy Capner of Edgewater Park tied red, white and blue roses to the mane of her horse, Star.

She rode in the parade, along with her sister and friends.

“We're doing patriotic horses to get in the spirit of the Fourth of July,” she said.

In the minutes before the parade began, Capner tied small ponytails in her horse's mane, wrapped its legs with colorful fabric, and attached a white feather to its bridle.

“We are trying to do as much as we can in red, white and blue,” she said. “We've got hats and boas. The whole nine yards.”

Timothy Brown of Moorestown was perhaps the most appropriated dressed person this holiday. While marching in the Moorestown parade, Brown donned a Revolutionary-era outfit.

Brown, who volunteers for the local historical society, said he served in the Marine Corps for four years. “I believe in serving my country and protecting my country,” he said.

On Independence Day, Brown said it is important “to honor what we have. We have many more freedoms than most other countries.”

If Brown was one of the “oldest” attractions in the Moorestown parade, Ellen Gagnon had the most modern.

She drove a shiny blue Smart car that she and her husband purchased just two months ago.

“I have 2,000 miles on it already,” she said proudly. “I take it all around town.”

For the Fourth of July, Gagnon decorated the tiny car with balloons and gave her daughter and grandson a ride.

Behind them in the parade was 11-year-old Gab-rielle Cooper, who rode in a decorated golf cart and tossed handfuls of candy to the crowd gathered along Main Street.

Cooper said she enjoys the holiday because “you get to throw out candy and you get to see all the happy people.

“You get to watch fireworks and think about the United States history.”

Contact Lauri Sheibley at lsheibley@phillyBurbs.com