Group planning Fourth of July parade in downtown Elkins

File photo The Fourth of July fireworks display in downtown Elkins, shown above from a previous year’s event, will this year be joined by a Fourth of July parade downtown, presented by Citizens Promoting Community.
ELKINS — Citizens Promoting Community will offer a Fourth of July parade in downtown Elkins this year with a bike decorating contest, an ATV decorating contest and more.
The parade will take place on Friday, July 4 at 5 p.m. in downtown Elkins.
Line-up for the parade will be at 4 p.m. near Northern Eagle Inc. on South Davis Avenue. The parade route will continue on South Davis Avenue and Davis Avenue until it reaches the Elkins Randolph County YMCA and Elkins City Hall.
Citizens Promoting Community President Phillips Kolsun said the idea to have a parade started after the group was approached by multiple members of the community.
“We haven’t had a July 4th parade,” Kolsun told The Inter-Mountain. “…with the car show, the fireworks and the other stuff that Our Town and Mountain State Street Machines do, we thought this would be a nice addition to the July 4th celebrations.”
The parade will have four different categories, including groups, such as dance and cheer, and floats. There will also be a parade category for the decorated children’s bicycles contest and the decorated ATVs and UTVs contest. The bicycle contest is for ages 12 and under.
All four parade groups will be judged in separate competitions with the first-, second- and third-place winners in each category receiving cash prizes. The winners will be announced outside of Elkins City Hall after the parade has ended.
When asked if Citizens Promoting Community officials believed the parade could become an annual event every Fourth of July, Kolsun said they hoped so.
“We’ve gotten a lot of support from the community, and we’ve got a lot of interested parties to take part in the parade,” Kolsun said. “So we’re hoping this can become an annual event.”
Kolsun said Citizens Promoting Community will be accepting submissions for the four parade categories until a week before the event. More information will be made available on Citizens Promoting Community’s social media in the coming weeks.
“The more the merrier, as far as groups and floats and organizations that want to partake in the parade,” Kolsun said.
For more information, contact Citizens Promoting Community at 304-550-9619, or at citizenspromotingcommunity@gmail.com.