Tens of thousands line Latrobe's streets for Independence Day, a tradition started in 1969

Renae Battaglia has claimed a prime spot on a Latrobe street corner for four decades to watch the Independence Day parade wind through town.

She’s seen her four children march from the intersection at Ligonier and Weldon streets and, on Friday, she watched her husband and two grandsons participate in the community tradition from the same spot.

“It’s always nice to come here to run into friends that you don’t see all the time and, most of all, just honoring the day itself with a big celebration,” said the Latrobe native.

The Latrobe 4th of July Celebration has been a community staple since it started in 1969 and annually delivers the quintessential small town Independence Day festival.

Over those decades, it’s become a tradition for local families to set up their chairs on the route the day before, don their best red, white and blue regalia and wave to the local veterans and others who take part in the parade.

The fun started Thursday evening and continued all day Friday at Legion Keener Park after the parade until fireworks capped off the night.

This year, organizers focused on children by adding attractions and events for youngsters.

Tens of thousands of parade-goers crowded the sidewalks Friday under a hot, cloudless sky and turned their excited attention to the street once the American flags leading the parade could be seen from a distance. Fire trucks, classic cars and motorcycles lumbered along while marching bands were in unison and cheerleaders danced.

Pageant winners gave graceful, slow waves while children on the sidewalk clamored for candy to fill their bags and buckets. Community and youth groups were followed by local businesses, politicians and even a unicyclist.

U.S. Navy veteran Duane V. Myers, 95, of Armbrust, wearing his dress whites uniform, smiled and waved to the crowd. He served during the Korean War on an underwater demolition team, known as “frogmen,” and said he did espionage work. In 1951, he survived an ambush in North Korea and was awarded a Purple Heart.

He said he has participated in the parade since its early beginnings.

“It gets bigger every year,” he said. “People are getting more patriotic toward us now than they did when we came out of the service. It makes you feel pretty good.”

Myers was joined by fellow Navy veteran Jim Smith, 82, of Hempfield, who served during the Vietnam War, and several other members of the Armbrust Veteran’s Association.

Kendrick Bolish, 37, has been attending the Latrobe parade his entire life, he said. He’s passed on the tradition to his three children and took them, his fiancee and nephew to Friday’s event.

“I think it’s really good for the community,” he said.

Bolish was one of several friends Battaglia, of Unity, ran into while waiting for the parade to begin from her post at Ligonier and Weldon. She was joined by her mother, Irene Goodman, to watch her husband, Vinnie Battaglia, walk with the Latrobe Volunteer Fire Department. Her grandsons participated with the Greater Latrobe marching band and a Little League team.

She got a good view of them, but her tried and true spot has another advantage.

“It’s shady until almost the end of the parade,” she said. “You just get the sun at the very end.”