Hundreds of residents and visitors lined Chisholm Street and clogged the sidewalks of downtown Alpena shortly before 11 a.m. Monday, sporting their red, white, and blue best and awaiting the start of the HPC Credit Union Fourth of July parade.

In good-natured anticipation, families posed for pictures while little girls gloried in their star-spangled outfits and little boys got sticky with cotton candy.

Dogs of all makes and models sniffed legs, and kids clutching plastic bags perched on curbs.

Content in their momentary stillness, the people on the side of the road talked and laughed and ate popcorn in the community’s grand coming-together, strangers rubbing shoulders with strangers, ideologies set aside in the pleasure of waiting for the parade.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Paradegoers wave at passing floats and wait for candy during the HPC Credit Union Fourth of July parade in Alpena on Monday.

“They’re rounding the corner!” a mother cried, to the squeals of her children.

Floats and fire trucks and candidates making cameos made their way down Chisholm. Leading the way, flag-bearing men in uniform brought the crowd out of their folding chairs to offer a round of applause and thanks.

“Mom, look! It’s Godzilla!” a child hollered, waving an arm at a costumed, float-top character that another child enthusiastically identified as a bigfoot. “Now, that’s a float,” a man said approvingly.

A few floats later, children on the curb hopped in glee, eyes trained on a giant, inflated Mario character.

“I can’t believe they have Mario but they don’t have Luigi,” a middle-aged man grumbled.

News Photo by Julie Riddle A child collects candy in downtown Alpena during the HPC Credit Union Fourth of July parade on Monday.

As a girl triumphantly held up a just-thrown mini-bottle of Spider-Man hand sanitizer, a curly-headed boy gasped in horror, eyes on the parade.

“It’s a school bus!” he exclaimed, pointing to the vehicle-turned-float of the Alpena-Montmorency-Alcona Educational Service District.

As the last police car inched down 2nd Avenue, children scoured the streets for overlooked candy.

The watchers seemed in no hurry to fold up their chairs — content, for the moment, to be outside, together, and free.

Later, at Starlite Beach, adults holding shovels and kids wielding their imagination turned sand into dragons, turtles, a larger-than-life hippo’s head, and an underwater kingdom during The Alpena News’s annual sandcastle building contest.

News Photo by Julie Riddle A stars-and-stripes-bedecked man watches Alpena’s Fourth of July parade on Monday.

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Around them, barefooted adventurers wiggled their toes in the sand and braved the cold of Thunder Bay in the not-entirely-warm semi-sunshine.

A woman hefted a boy out of wheelchair and carried him to the water’s edge to dip his toes in the waves.

“Mom might have a hard time, but you can go in the water, too,” the woman told the boy. “You can do anything you want to do.”

Nearby, lines formed around food trucks. The thump of bean bags denoted the occasional game of cornhole as the community paused to spend a holiday day together in Alpena.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Candy tossed by a parade participant catches the eye of young spectators at the HPC Credit Union Fourth of July parade in Alpena on Monday.

Julie Riddle can be reached at 989-358-5693 or jriddle@thealpenanews.com. Follow her on Twitter @jriddleX.

News Photo by Julie Riddle A young baker helps prepare dough atop a float at the HPC Credit Union Fourth of July parade in Alpena on Monday.

News Photo by Julie Riddle A decked-out spectator watches the beginning of the HPC Credit Union Fourth of July parade in Alpena on Monday.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Children wait for candy near the Alpena County Courthouse before the start of the Fourth of July parade on Monday.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Stilt walkers entertain the crowd during Alpena’s Fourth of July parade on Monday.

News Photo by Julie Riddle An eager crowd enjoys a cool Fourth of July morning during Alpena’s annual Independence Day parade on Monday.

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