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Barcroft 2026 4th of July Parade
Barcroft Loves its Parade!
July 4, 2026 - Hot! and our 49th parade.
We have awesome 4th of July Parades! Kids! Bicycles! Wagons! Trikes! Pets! Bands! Floats! Picnic! Hot Dogs! Hamburgers and other home-made sides! Entertainment for the kids! Watermelon! Homemade desserts! Star Spangled Banner! The 2026 Barcroft Neighborhood 4th of July parade had it all and our hottest ever weather in the mid 90's.
Heather Meade and Jim Moran arrived early to set up. They had been working non-stopfor two days on parade preparations, staging supplies, decorations,
food and more at the Community House. The signs had been up for a week.
The cooks fired up the grill early.
And at 10am with the temperature in the mid-90's the parade started!
You can see a five minute video here.
The first two minutes are just the approach.
We were led by an Arlington County police car. They block off our route each year and we really appreciate them.
The band and Cub Scout color guard led the way.
There were kids on bikes, and cargo bikes with entire families.
There were two cars, one with 250 splashed across the hood.
And more marchers with kids, dogs, bikes or whatever.
We had three floats - a reflecting pool with algae, a three-pilot biplane and George Washington crossing the Delaware
And as always, Uncle Sam!
With a mighty Arlington County fire truck livening up the end.
The judges stand was at Barcroft Elementary School.
Despite the heat, we had about as many spectators are participants.
The parade returned to the Community House for our annual picnic and entertainment for kids.
There was a Bubble Show.
And you can see the bubbles in this video.
The cooks had been sweating over the grill.
And a line formed for the picnic.
We had hot dogs, hamburgers, cheeseburges, an incredible
array of salads, pasta dishes, and lots more.
Besides watermelon we had a big dessert table.
And did we mention that it was all free!
Most people ate outside in the shady garden.
Don Bennett's hand-crafted bench was a nice spot.
John and Jennifer Lis are leaving us soon and will be sorely missed!
We turned the Community House into a cooling room at 68 degrees.
With a table reserved for seniors.
And many others enjoying the cool indoor picnic.
Meanwhile, there were things going out outside--like facepainting, glitter and temporary tattoos.
Deftly applied by our glitter and tattoo artists.
The cargo bikes were parked while the families had a good time.
And there were many colorfully decorated bikes.
We are grateful to The Woman's Club of Arlington for use of their parking lot on the 4th.
Our fire truck roared off to a call, then came back for photos.
Everybody loves a fire truck.
So there were lots of photos.
And you could even climb up and go inside!
All welcomed by our friendly fire fighters.
And that wraps up another in our series of American small-town 4th of July celebrations. As you can imagine, there was a lot of cleanup to do, and many people pitched in to make it quick work in the heat. We went home to a cool house, so we don't have any photos of that.
See you next year, rain, heat or whatever!