BELLA VISTA -- Independence Day is a time for tradition, Sen. John Boozman said Saturday, invoking his own childhood memories and recalling the hopes and dreams of those who founded this country.
Boozman, R-Ark., was the keynote speaker at Saturday's Fourth of July Patriot Parade in Bella Vista. The event was framed with flags and bunting as an estimated crowd of 1,000 people gathered to celebrate the nation's founding and honor those in subsequent generations who have fought for freedom.
"We do it to celebrate the birth of our nation, but we also do it to honor our military personnel, past and present," Jim Parsons, who has helped organize the parade for the past eight years, said before the festivities began.
Veterans made up a large part of the crowd and the parade itself, with bands, honor guards and marching units.
Parsons said the Bella Vista Patriots organization is working to record some of the memories of area veterans, before those firsthand accounts are lost forever.
"We want to have these things preserved now, before it's to late to honor these great men and women," Parsons said. "Because the freedoms we enjoy today we owe to them. We want their grandchildren to know what they did for all of us."
Mo Kunkel, an Army veteran of World War II, said he appreciates the people of the community coming together for such an event.
"I think it's the greatest honor to the veterans that Bella Vista can offer," he said. "It's getting bigger every year. To see the people come out like this, it makes my heart feel good."
Boozman, with his granddaughter Daisy at his side, spoke of growing up with family and friends celebrating the Fourth of July with picnics, homemade ice cream, swimming and fireworks.
"Looking back, those are some of the happiest times I can remember," he said. "Those are the moments we love."
Beyond the family and and celebrations, Boozman said, it's important to reflect on the reason for the holiday and the sacrifices of those who established "the greatest and free-est country in the world."
Boozman reminded the crowd the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 2, 1776, but not made public until July 4. He quoted John Adams, one of the drafters of the Declaration of Independence and a future president, who wrote to his wife, Abigail, of the significance of the day.
"It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more," Adams wrote.
Boozman said he is always brought back to something an old science teacher once said to him about the holiday.
"He told me to always remember, we're the land of the free because of the brave," he said.
NW News on 07/05/2015