By David Chircop
Herald Writer
EVERETT -- Fireworks, backyard barbecues, parades, ball games and African drumming.
Those are just a few ways that people in Snohomish County on Friday celebrated independence and the birth of the country.
Under overcast skies and in short-sleeve temperatures, hundreds of people lined up on Colby Avenue in downtown Everett in the morning to watch what some say was the longest and best-attended parade in recent memory.
The lineup for the city's Colors of Freedom parade had a deliberately diverse lineup, including Chinese dragons, Scottish bagpipes, Aztec warriors, Norwegian polka and elaborately dressed Filipino dancers.
The Adefua African Music and Dance Company of Seattle got feet tapping with its tribal grooves that fused traditions of Senegal, Nigeria, Guinea, Ghana and Zaire and Caribbean nations.
As advertised, the weather did not interfere with anyone's Fourth of July festivities.
As of press time, no major fireworks-related injuries or fires were reported in the county. Marysville Fire Department, which also serves Lake Goodwin and the Tulalip Indian Reservation, responded to a few tree fires.
People who gathered for a music festival at Legion Memorial Park on Everett's northwestern tip were treated to a spectacular orange sun that dipped behind dozens of sailboats set anchor in Port Gardner Bay.
Kelvis Mulima of Everett relaxed on a folding chair while the famous reggae performer Clinton Fearon sang upbeat songs of freedom at Legion park.
Mulima is from Uganda, a landlocked East African nation east of Kenya, where the average life expectancy for men is just 51 years.
In the 1970s Idi Amin's dictatorial regime was responsible for the deaths of about 300,000 opponents.
"In the country that I'm from, we have freedom, but not the kind we enjoy over here," he said.
Sue Strickland, an Everett resident who also attended the music festival, said the Fourth of July is a good time to reflect on our liberties.
"It's just to celebrate our freedom as a nation and to remind us not to take things for granted," she said. "We have so much to be grateful for."
Reporter David Chircop: 425-339-3429 or dchircop@heraldnet.com.
