In Miami Springs, locals can get their march on again for July 4th

Locals can get their march on again, after a one-year pandemic hiatus, as the Miami Springs City Council voted 5-0 Monday to revive its annual Fourth of July parade.

“Even if it’s cut down, we’re still having one,” said Miami Springs Councilman Bob Best.

This year’s shortened route will start at 10 a.m. on Saturday, July 3, in front of the Miami Springs Baptist Church, 378 Westward Dr., and end at Miami Springs Golf & Country Club, 650 Curtiss Pkwy.

After the parade, the city will host a classic car show along its circle, at the intersection of Westward Dr. and Curtiss Pkwy.

On Sunday, July 4, the public is invited back to the golf course where a $16,000 fireworks display commences at dusk. Miami Springs is a three-square mile city, population 14,000, north of Miami International Airport that has 10 churches, and a Sunday parade would interfere with services.

For decades, hundreds of Independence Day paradegoers threw water balloons and shot water cannons at each other along a mile stretch of Miami Springs’ main street — Westward Drive. However, that tradition ended, in 2017, after the city installed a bike path and fresh landscaping that restricts parking.

The city’s last Fourth of July parade, in 2019, ended abruptly after a child was hit by trailer and rushed to the hospital. She survived.

Safety measures, this year, include not allowing ATVs, motorcycles, or go-carts along the parade route. Other rules require parade vehicles to be decorated and fly only one flag along the route, said Miami Springs Recreation Director Omar Luna.

“You can have an American flag — a United States flag — you can’t have any other flag,” Luna said. “Everything else will not be allowed in the parade.”

Last month, neighbors who closely examined American flags posted by volunteers along Miami Springs’ popular Curtiss Parkway bike path were offended when they noticed the hashtag OneNation printed on them. The flags were a show of local patriotism leading up to the Fourth of July.

“I appreciate the idea behind the flags, just the American flag and that’s it,” said Miami Springs Mayor Maria Mitchell. “That will not bring up some sort of unexpected controversy that might arise.”

If you would like to participate in the city’s Fourth of July parade or classic car show, call 305-805-5000.

Theo Karantsalis can be reached at karantsalis@bellsouth.net