The parade starts at 11:00 a.m. at the Community Center and is informal but quite festive since CJCA distributes hats, pin wheels, flags, etc to all participants. Kids bring decorated bikes. Families bring their dogs. The Cabin John Marching Band (a guy with a boom box) plays various patriotic songs as people walk along the bike path from the Community Center to the MacArthur Plaza shopping center in the middle of the community. Upon arrival around 11:30 a.m., everyone is met with doughnuts, watermelon, lemonade, and a vigorous and rousing reading of the Declaration of Independence. (OK, so we don’t actually read the whole thing, just the really good stuff.) Occasionally there will be new elements added to the affair, such as the hula hoop contest last year.
