Annual Julian 4th of July Parade Cancelled

Due to the devastating fire that struck the Julian area today, numerous road closures and evacuations and under direction from the California Highway Patrol, the annual Julian Fourth of July Parade and celebration has been cancelled.

Celebrate Our Nation’s Birthday in Julian

The stars and stripes will move down Main Street during this year’s Julian Fourth of July parade, prompting selection of It’s a Grand Old Flag as the theme for the annual patriotic celebration.

For more than 20 years, Julian residents, their friends and parade lovers from all over have lined up on the town’s main thoroughfare to wave their flags, cheer the marching bands (now four), and salute the U.S. Marine color guards. There is always a gang of local bad guys who try to rob the bank, but the sheriff rounds them up before the gunmen can get anything.

Riding along the parade route will be Grand Marshal David Lewis, whose Julian roots go back to 1887, when George Ritchie homesteaded 160 acres on Eagle Peak and then sat down to a life of teaching here. Best known as Julian’s historian, Lewis wrote a book called Last Known Address, that was a finalist in the San Diego Book Awards. While researching gravesites in the Julian cemetery he discovered the unmarked gravesites of the town’s black pioneers: America Newton, Albert Robinson, Martha Boyd and Susan Tull.

This year you can swing to the tunes of four bands, see the Mountain Tribal Gypsies dance down Main Street, honor Submarine veterans, and salute the newly crowned Miss Julian and her entourage, follow vintage aircraft flyovers. There are bands, bunting, banners, flags, and patriotic songs.