As America approaches its 250th anniversary in a time of political turmoil and deep division, the Oak Park and River Forest community will be hosting July 4 celebrations centered around unity within the community.
Community events in the works include the annual Oak Park July 4 parade, with Grand Marshal Emery Lehman. Lehman is an Oak Park native who represented the United States in speed skating at four Olympic games. Lehman won a silver medal for men’s team pursuit at the 2026 Olympic games in Milan.
The parade will start at 10 a.m. on July 4 at Longfellow Park at Ridgeland Avenue and Adams Street. Paraders will walk toward Whittier School along on Ridgeland.
The event will include performances from Kaotic Drumline, Jesse White Tumblers, Medinah Shriners Mini Choppers, South Shore Drill Team and New Generation Fancy Drill Team. Many other local businesses and organizations will also be walking in the parade.
“It’s a great tradition,” said Dan Yopchick, Oak Park’s chief communications officer. “It’s a great way to bring community members throughout the village to celebrate the village, to celebrate the United States … and being with each other.”
Oak Park and River Forest are not hosting July 4 fireworks displays this year.
A “red, white and blues” themed Thursday Night Out event is also taking place along Marion Street in Downtown Oak Park on July 2.
The Oak Park and River Forest Historical Society is participating in the festivities by hosting a reading of the Declaration of Independence on July 8 in Scoville Park. The reading starts at 5 p.m, but 4:30 p.m arrival is recommended. Some 18 community members will take turns reading the document. Scheduled readers include incoming District 97 Supt. Terri Bresnahan.
The Oak Park and River Forest Historical Society is partnering with the League of Women Voters and the Collaboration for Early Childhood Education to host this event.
The reading is part of a larger simultaneous reading of the Declaration of Independence across the nation. Groups in every state and territory will be reading the Declaration of Independence at the same time throughout the nation.
While the Declaration of Independence was famously signed on July 4, 1776, this year’s reading event will take place on July 8, since July 8, 1776 was the first day the American public around the country read the Declaration.
The Historical Society encourages people to stay in the area for dinner after the event to help promote local business especially during construction on Oak Park Avenue.
“It’s something to bring the community together,” said Cheri Bentrup, the society’s community outreach coordinator.
The reading will also feature somebody playing Uncle Sam, the famous figure often used as a personification of the United States, and an enlarged declaration, which readers can choose to sign onto if they stand by the values listed in the declaration.
Frank Lipo, executive director of the historical society, views this event as a call for unity in a time of political division, as well as a call for a totalistic view of history and a reinstatement of the American ideals that unite us all.
“People in Illinois in Alabama and in California and Texas are deciding to look back at the founding document and say ‘wow, that means a lot to me,’” said Lipo.
Lipo also highlighted the fact not many Americans have recently read the Declaration of Independence from front to back.
“Let’s hear the actual words that were agreed to on July 4, 1776,” said Lipo. “There will be some things that sound very relevant, and some things that feel very ancient.”
Lipo talked about the relevance of the declaration, both for the role it has played in our country’s past and the role it can play in its future.
“It’s not like the issues in the declaration are some ancient thing,” said Lipo. “It is the responsibilities and rights of the citizens.”
The Oak Park and River Forest Historical Society is a non-profit organization, founded in 1968, that manages the Oak Park River Forest Museum, and Jeanette S. and Ellis K. Fields Research Center and archives.
When talking about the event, Lipo posed a question he hoped to be central to the event: “How can we make the country better moving ahead?”