Residents and visitors packed the streets of Portage to come out and enjoy the 2015 Portage Independence Day Parade on Saturday, July 4th. Families brought their lawn chairs and awaited the start as children danced on curbs peering down Willowcreek Road eagerly anticipating the first round of sirens from police cars and firetrucks.
To see more photos from the event, click here!
The Parade participants arrived early to line up at Willowcreek Middle School before making the slow march from Central Avenue all the way to Lute Road where the parade finished up. Attendees were treated to elaborate floats from many organizations within the community as well as classic cars, motorcycles, Minions, Disney Princesses just to name a few.
During the parade, the Portage Township Food Pantry pushed around carts to collect food items. The word was put out well in advance and people were encouraged to bring items with them to the parade to be collected. It was a hope of the organization that by the end of the parade these carts would be overflowing with donations.
This year’s Grand Marshall was 22 year old, Portage native Tori Bliss. Tori is in her fourth year attending Louisiana State University where she is a member of the LSU Track and Field Team.
“The mayor had one of his officials give me a call and ask me if I would be home this summer and I hadn’t planned on it,” Bliss said. “He then said that he wanted me to be the Grand Marshall of the parade and that he would fly me up here so I could be a part of it and I accepted the invitation! What’s great about the parade is that I think it really brings together the entire City of Portage and, for today, our community becomes something bigger.”