Happy 4th of July, you crazy, crazy kids.

People have been camping out for days along University Avenue in anticipation of this year's "Freedom Festival" parade. Hundreds of people line the streets up to 3-3.5 days in advance, staking their claim along the grassy strip that lines the street. Sparkling floats made by local churches and civic groups sit in an unlit parking lot, waiting for the morning's light. They seem oddly out of place - abandoned, without spectators. The seats that will cradle the derrieres of important community members appear now to be nothing more than bizarre thrones. A lone parking lot attendant ensures their safekeeping.

The few remaing threads of Americana are preserved for one year more.