Fourth of July parades are ready to go

On Saturday, Glen Arbor’s parade rolls out of Glen Haven at noon and then later that afternoon, Leland’s parade begins on Main Street at 3 p.m. Though different in style and scale, the two share the fact that they’d probably happen whether anyone organized them or not.

“We’re sure if we weren’t here at 3 p.m. a parade of sorts would roll down Main Street just the same,” Jen Watkins, who cochairs the Leland parade with her mother Shelley Watkins, said.

Glen Arbor’s parade has been a fixture since the late 1960s, when the route stretched all the way to the Homestead. These days it runs from Glen Haven to Oak Street, and draws crowds from well beyond the township limits.