{"id":205016,"date":"2026-04-21T22:13:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T03:13:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=205016"},"modified":"2026-04-21T22:13:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T03:13:21","slug":"entries-being-accepted-for-independence-day-parade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2026\/04\/21\/entries-being-accepted-for-independence-day-parade\/","title":{"rendered":"Entries being accepted for Independence Day parade"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"
Navy Club Ship 726 is working hard to play this year’s July 4 parade in Van Wert. Van Wert independent file photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It may seem not so close but when you\u2019re planning a grand parade to celebrate America\u2019s 250th birthday, it\u2019s really not that far away at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Navy Club Ship 726 is organizing this year\u2019s special semiquincenntenial celebration and while it will be held in Van Wert, it will be a countywide celebration. The Van Wert-based organization took over July 4 parade planning duties, after there was no Independence Day parade last year. In previous years, it had been handled by American Legion Post 178 in Van Wert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome of our guys were really upset there was no parade last year,\u201d Club Commander Ken Myers previously said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As far as this year\u2019s parade, which will travel along Main St. from the YWCA to the YMCA, Myers said there has been a lot of interest but not a lot of commitment yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople are trying to figure out exactly what they\u2019re trying to do with timelines and things like that,\u201d Myers stated. \u201cWe\u2019re asking people to get their entry in by June 1 so we can have the lineup all squared away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also acknowledged that while this year\u2019s Independence Day holiday is special, celebrating July 4 is different than it was a generation or two ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow we were brought up, the Fourth of July was a celebration at home,\u201d he said. \u201cYou went to watch the parade, you went to grandma and grandpa\u2019s with your parents and had a cookout, watched the fireworks and that\u2019s what the Fourth of July was. Now, it\u2019s how far you can get in the car and go and be gone for three days.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

While Navy Club Ship 726 is still encouraging groups, organizations, businesses, elected officials and others to take part in the parade, Myers said the group has picked the grand marshal \u2013 Gary Hertel, a local veteran who served in Vietnam from January, 1969, to February, 1970, and has been involved in various causes and activities over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe is known for how much he gives to the humane society, veterans, kids, CAMO Court and loves his bulldogs and his (Lincolnview) Lancers,\u201d Myers said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, the person that drove the grand marshal during the 1976 bicenntential parade \u2013 John Rager \u2013 will drive Hertel in this year\u2019s parade and Myers said organizers are trying to find a car identical or similar to the one driven 50 years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along with the parade, Navy Club Ship 726 is organizing other offerings on July 3-4, including music by Paulding native and country music singer Pete Schlegel, who has released several albums and has had a pair of No. 1 hit songs \u2013 \u201cLeavin\u2019 Ain\u2019t As Easy As It Sounds<\/em>\u201d and \u201cMy God<\/em>\u201d on July 4 at Fountain Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To help offset the cost of bringing in the band, the club has held some fundraisers, including a recent chicken BBQ dinner, which according to Myers, went well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In between the Independence Day parade and the concert that night, Myers is planning to have food vendors and bounce houses at Fountain Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the latest updates, check Navy Club Ship 726\u2019s Facebook page.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent editor It may seem not so close but when you\u2019re planning a grand parade to celebrate America\u2019s 250th birthday, it\u2019s really not that far away at all. Navy Club Ship 726 is organizing this year\u2019s special semiquincenntenial celebration and while it will be held in Van Wert, it will be a countywide celebration. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-205016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-topstory"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-29 06:50:40","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205016"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":205018,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205016\/revisions\/205018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}