Turlock’s 4th Annual Independence Celebration on Saturday was estimated to be the biggest events held downtown in recent history as thousands of Turlockers came out to celebrate our country’s Independence Day.Last year’s Christmas parade had an estimated 18,000 people come out and has grown into a huge success, but this year’s Independence Celebration was bigger than that while lasting all day until 4pm. Last year’s 4th of July celebration had an estimated attendance of about 5,000 people.
The Turlock American Legion Rex Ish Post 88 always pays first and is a sponsor to help lead this annual event with the Turlock Downtown Property Owners Association. Al Seaton (Seaton Ideas Consulting) and DJ Fransen (TurlockCityNews.com) worked on the event promotions with Turlock Downtown Executive Director Trina Walley. Rick and Tami Wallenburg (Graffiti Classics) specifically worked on putting on the car show.
Sponsors of the 2010 Independence Celebration included Les Schwab Tires, American Legion Rex Ish Post 88, Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), Ladies Auxiliary VFW, Turlock Convention & Visitors Bureau, Allen Mortuary, Turlock Irrigation District (TID), TurlockCityNews.com, Graffiti Classics, Turlock Journal, Turlock Youth Soccer Association (TYSA), Turlock Downtown Property Owners Association, Farmers & Merchants Bank, Rex Klein Insurance, Bonander Pontiac, Mocse Credit Union, Woods Furniture Gallery, Monte Vista Small Animal Hospital, and Turlock Exchange Club.
This event was free and open to the public while increasing the demanded activities for youth and entertainment compared to last year because of the community sponsors. Please acknowledge and appreciate these sponsors’ financial contributions toward the community during this difficult economic time, this would not have been possible and will not be possible next year without them!
As TurlockCityNews.com helped plan and promote this annual event for the first time, we want to express that these events take more than even just the official sponsors, planners, promoters, volunteers, and the City’s cooperation; there are countless amounts of time and people who “help” by putting up posters, announcing their participation and getting more participation, working on parade entries, friends and families volunteering with organizations or businesses trying to have a presence with a booth, special arrangements made by vendors and media, and much more. There’s more to this than we can put down here but we’re thankful the Turlock community comes together like this and want the people that enjoyed the event to know it’s more than the listed contributors who make this great community work (in general too).
With an estimated crowd of nearly 15,000 people having fun enjoying the parade, car show, food, fun and celebrating with veterans this country’s Independence Day, no reports of incidents were made at the time of the event. Many reports have come in though saying that it was one of those events where everyone got to see everyone or meet new people and this event had a great Turlock feel.Opening ceremonies were held before the parade that focused around our country’s celebration of its independence. Military personnel, veterans, and Mayor Lazar led the respectful opening ceremonies.
The parade and entire event was kicked off with a special presence by Alan Sanchez as he hosted the CW31 Good Day Sacramento morning show from downtown Turlock with Miss Stanislaus Alex Backus. Alan Sanchez was also the parade’s Celebrity Marshal behind the Grand Marshal, American Legion Commander Bob Russell. Government dignitaries also led the parade including our Assemblyman Bill Berryhill, Turlock Mayor John Lazar, and Turlock Councilwoman Mary Jackson. There were about 85 parade entries this year.
Once the street faire was officially going by around 11:00am, lines were out the door at eateries such as Main Street Footers and vendors had long lines of customers. Many people enjoyed looking at all the car show entries that topped 100 vehicles and browsing the downtown shops and street vendors until around 4:00pm.
Special thanks to some participants/entertainers who scheduled to sit in the dunk tank: Turlock School Board Member Bob Weaver and Turlock City Council Candidate Timm LaVelle.
The demand to make next year’s event even bigger and better has already begun. Anyone interested in next year’s event or any other Turlock Downtown event should contact TDPOA at www.turlockdowntown.com.
TurlockCityNews.com took many pictures and has uploaded some of them into the TurlockCityNews.com Photo Gallery (Must be registered user and logged in, right hand menu). Check back for updated picture uploads. If anyone has any pictures they would like to submit, please email them to submissions@turlockcitynews.com.
Parade and car show winners will be announced, along with more reports of the event, once the holiday is over.
CW31 Good Day Sacramento Videos (for Miss Stanislaus Alex Backus video clip, click the magnifying glass symbol and type in Turlock):