Every year for decades, Mendocino’s 4th of July parade, intended to be a bizarre combination of the patriotic and irreverent, packs the town. There have been old hippies, farmers with livestock, patriotic displays, liberal and conservative protests and stuff so wacky, it’s hard to categorize.
The parade is led by a somber color guard and a big brigade of fire trucks blasting horns for kids that run alongside. The American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars troops follow.
A big part of the fun is that nobody knows what the parade will be like ahead of time. Many participants, like much of life on the remote Coast, works on “Mendotime,” meaning that many follow their own clocks as well as the path. (The most eclectic participants find advance registration too structured.)
Among past years’ oddball antics and entries: the Big Hair marching group, the Petaluma Chicken Pluckers, the All Susan Marching Band, the All Kathy Marching band and the “Free the Skateboard Seven.”
Cannabis activist Pebbles Trippet would push a wheelbarrow with marijuana plants down the route. Perhaps the most famous were the topless “Breasts not Bombs” protesters.
This year, there will be a big tribute to Larry Fuente, one of Mendocino’s best-known artists, who died recently.
Fuente’s 1960 Cadillac, known as “Mad Cad,” is emblazoned with more than a million beads and other art. Fuente didn’t usually register and often showed up late or even after the parade was over, but always got cheering from onlookers. This year, the Mad Cad will be towed on a trailer. People are bringing flowers to put on the trailer and give Fuente a fittingly color-filled send off.
The Mendocino 4th of July Parade, which dates back more than a century, starts at noon at Heeser and Main streets and makes a big loop through the town. While other communities have lost their parades over the last 50 years, the 2024 Mendocino 4th of July Parade is as big as ever, with 41 entries.
“That’s the number of entries we have now. We don’t ever know who all will show up and join in,” said Mendocino Coast Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Janice Littrell. The theme this year is “Be Humane.” Judy Martin, executive director of the Mendocino Coast Humane Society is the grand marshal.
The theme works for the Humane Society and for people, too. “With everything going on in the world, we really all need to remember to be humane to each other,” said Littrell.
While politics were largely absent in 2023, this year, The Parents for Peace are registered.
Another entry sports an array of American flags along with patriotic music and messages.
Other participants include Fort Bragg’s North Coast Tsunami cheerleading squad, which recently won first place at the World Class Cheerleading competition in Las Vegas, Flynn Creek Circus, a group promoting a survey of the Coast’s comedic orange-footed oyster catcher bird, a ukulele band, and salmon nerds from Trout Unlimited.
The Mendocino 4th of July Parade starts at noon July 4 at Heeser and Main streets, Mendocino. Go to visitmendocino.com.
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