All hands are on deck - including the village president - for biggest event of the year
Following Mike Hayes' signal at 10 a.m. sharp, the first vehicle pulled onto Garfield Avenue. The Hodakowskis had a great view from their front yard, as did Tom Cauley and his family from the top of a fire truck. By 11:38 a.m., Police Chief Brian King was taking down barriers, with help from Deputy Chief Tom Lillie's sons, John and Patrick. (Jim Slonoff photos)
For most Americans, the Fourth of July is a day off.
That's not the case for those on staff in the Village of Hinsdale, who were out in full force last Thursday morning for the Independence Day parade.
Which employees were working?
"Like the whole village of Hinsdale," said Mike Hayes, superintendent of parks and recreation, listing off fire, police, public works, pool staff and administration.
This year's parade is the second Hayes has directed since joining the village in October 2022.
"I've got it down. I'm a pro now," he said with a grin.
"It's my 50th," chimed in Jim Piontkowski, longtime building maintenance supervisor for the village.
Piontkowski wasn't the only longstanding parade veteran on the streets Thursday morning. Former state Rep. Patti Bellock was on hand, lined up on Sixth Street with a group supporting Hinsdale resident Baron Leacock, who is running for a seat on the DuPage County Board in November. When he mentioned to Bellock a while back that this would be his first parade, she offered to join the group.
"I said, 'I've done it for 35 years,' " she recalled.
Almost 80 parade entries were lined up on Sixth, Seventh and Eighth streets and Ulm Place by 9:30 a.m. Many groups were clad in matching T-shirts and carried large bags of candy or other giveaways. Bingo and Blue-eyed Splash from Sarah's Stables in Willow Springs were popular with passers-by, who stopped to take selfies with the ponies. Empty chairs and blankets lined the parkways as random clowns roamed the streets and village employees zipped by in their golf carts.
Friends and neighbors filled the yard at the Hodakowksi home on Seventh and Garfield. Many have been gathering there every Fourth of July since 1997, not counting two COVID years.
"Sometimes we have 200. Sometimes we have 100," Elizabeth Hodakowski said of the crowd.
She hosted the first parade viewing party when her son, Alexander, was in Hinsdale Little League. Even though he's grown (in residency at Duke for orthopedic surgery), the party continues. For many years, she sent out invitations to the gathering.
"Now you don't have to have an invite. You just come," she said.
Elizabeth makes all the food for the party herself, and her stratas and Armenian nazouk (George's grandmother's recipe) are favorites among guests.
She and George - who also have two daughters, Caroline and Kathryn - tore down their old house to build a new one in 2016. The party was a factor as they decided where to place the house on the lot.
"We kept the front lawn so we would be able to continue," she said.
As 10 o'clock approached, village staff made their final checks to ensure all the entries were in place and ready to go.
"We're good on whatever street this is," one of the workers said into his walkie talkie as he drove past Eighth.
Hayes had the honors of starting things off.
"We're going to get going right now," he said at 10 o'clock sharp. "Here we go!"
With his signal the first vehicle, a Hinsdale police car driven by Matt Miller, pulled onto Garfield. The Chicago Honey Bear Dancers started their music and the Coast Guard unit received its orders of "Forward, march."
A light rain was falling, causing some consternation among those who borrowed cars for the parade.
"My brother is going to be so happy that his Jeep is all wet," one driver said as he rounded the corner from Eighth onto Garfield.
Members of the Hinsdale Chamber of Commerce, the grand marshal of the parade, spent some of their time drying off the seats of the Rolls in which they traveled.
But Mother Nature had nothing in store that would warrant calling off the parade.
"You can't cancel it unless it's really bad," village manager Kathleen Gargano had said earlier that morning as she paused the golf cart she was driving south on Garfield. After working with parks and rec, fire and police to plan the event, her duties at the parade were unspecified.
"I am here to assist everyone as needed," she said.
Village President Tom Cauley had the best view of the parade from his perch in the bucket of Hinsdale Fire Department's Truck 84. His son, Ryan, and 4-year-old grandson, Jack, dressed from head to toe in red, white and blue, joined him there. Cauley was clearly enjoying himself.
"I love it," he said of being in the parade. "I like having my grandkids, and that's obviously a more recent phenomenon. I've always enjoyed it and I like seeing all the residents. It's a good day to celebrate, to welcome in summer and acknowledge some of the benefits of being a U.S. citizen."
A participant in 16 parades, Cauley noted that events like this don't happen in places like Los Angeles, where his son lived before getting married and moving to Clarendon Hills.
"This is a relatively unique phenomenon that has a small-town feel to it that is just very special," he said.
It's also the biggest event of the year hosted by a village department, noted Robb McGinnis, building commissioner and community development director.
"This is like the parks and rec Super Bowl," he said.
