SALT LAKE CITY — It's the Fourth of July and Utahns came prepared to celebrate the holiday with their communities as they headed to the streets hours before parades began to secure their spot.
FOX 13 News joined in on the fun in Provo, where multiple families began their Fourth of July celebrations on Thursday night.
Pierre and his daughter Tenna were just one of the families determined to snag a perfect spot to enjoy the Freedom Festival Parade and arrived in the area at 9 p.m. Monday night.
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"The game plan was to find a spot and when we got here it was like filled," Pierre explained. "Fortunately for us the bank was kind of closing down and they had kind of barricaded their lawn and they removed it and we seized that spot and we camped out."
Tuesday morning, Tenna said she slept pretty good and was excited to see the firetrucks in the parade.
"Very excited," she said. "I'm happy to see the parade and I'm ready!"
"It's cool to be part of the birth of our nation," Pierre reflected. "Happy birthday America! This is awesome."
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Another family set up camp a full 24 hours before the parade and brought food, even cooking breakfast in the area on Tuesday morning. It's a tradition they have and enjoy every year.
"I'm the cook for our family," Junior said as he flipped hashbrowns, eggs and Spam on an outdoor stovetop. "We have a schedule, every three hours we're cooking something."
Terry Kennard is overseeing the Grand Parade at the Freedom Festival, an event that many Utah families look forward to every year.
"This is one of the most special days in Utah because we celebrate the Fourth of July like nobody else," he said. "We're very patriotic, we love the military, we love first responders, we love the parade, we love bands and balloons and the floats, it's all a fun experience."
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The parade takes months and months to put together, but it's worth it to see the community show their patriotism and enjoy making memories with their families.
In Centerville, residents prepared for the first Fourth of July parade in years after the pandemic and a massive wildfire in the area canceled the event in the past.
"Last year, we had the fires and we didn't have it," explained Kim Parker. "It was a sad day because Kaysville had their tragedy too and so I feel like this year everybody is ready to start a new year better and have it be a happier time."
Chairs lined the streets for days as residents got ready to celebrate the season and start new traditions for a holiday that has brought a lot of pain in the past.
Park City also got it's Fourth of July festivities off to a busy start Tuesday morning and even though the parade isn't until later in the day, that didn't stop people from heading out to grab prime real estate along Main Street.
"We have 66 entries this year so it's going to be a lot of fun," explained Linda Jager with the Park City Municipal Corporation. "All sorts of different floats, music, it's a really fun celebration, very colorful and exciting."
The fun doesn't stop after the parade with celebrations continuing throughout the day in Park City.
"Following the parade...there's a big celebration at city park all afternoon," Jager said. "We've got fun and games and food, and lots of celebrations and then we're going to cap it off with a drone show put on by Park City Mountain Resort this evening."
In Garden City, Utah's Weather Authority Tim Holdaway shared a photo of people enjoying the beautiful Fourth of July sunrise while waiting for festivities to begin.
