Canby’s Independence Day Celebration Draws Record Crowds Downtown

The Canby Independence Day Celebration was held last Thursday at Wait Park and throughout downtown Canby. It’s one of the city’s top draws every year, with an estimated attendance of over 10,000, and Canby Mayor Brian Hodson said, based on early estimates, this looks to have been its biggest year yet.

Although July Fourth is a holiday for most government workers and other lucky folks, Mayor Hodson tends to stay pretty busy that day. He traditionally serves at the pancake breakfast at Knight Elementary School (a popular fundraiser for the Canby Historical Society) and he also traditionally takes part in the parade, along with other city and county elected officials.

He says the Canby Independence Day Celebration is one of his favorite annual events.

One of the highlights of this year’s parade was the patriotic motorbike featuring Alex and Julie Bello, with their daughter Natasha in the sidecar. Many observers agreed that the sight of a bald eagle driving Lady Liberty down the streets of Canby in an Independence Day parade is a sight they will not soon forget.

Check out the gallery below for more parade photos, most of them by local resident Evan Walker.

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