July 15, 2005

All photos by Tom Harney

The Villages celebrate July 4 parade,
festival with “The Way We Were” theme

Residents of The Villages in Evergreen celebrate Indepen-dence Day the good old fashioned way each year—with a parade, barbeque, art work and crafts, concert, “junque” sale and book sale to round out the activities.

About 1,000 residents and their guests, including the Santa Clara Valley Chapter of the Model A Ford Club, attended the day’s activities.

“The success of the July 4 parade can be attributed to the cooperative spirit of the volunteers,” said Mary Tatum, director of the Community Activities Department. “A huge thank you goes to the July 4 parade chair, Donna Roberson, and her parade committee, Bing Kirk, Conné Hoffman and Cliff Taylor for another memorable parade.”

This year’s theme, “The Way We Were,” sparked the creativity of members of the Villagers Amateur Theatre Marilyn Craig (top) and Jeanne Broenen, who dressed up as flower children, as well as members of the Villages Democratic Club, with Ed McCall as Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Davey Thompson as Eleanor Roosevelt (bottom, left).

Jim Gleeson (bottom, right), a U.S. Navy veteran, remembers the way we were with a U.S.S. Minneapolis jacket listing all the naval battles in which he took part.