Lisa D’Angelo

A slice of local history and family tradition:

I will never forget my next-door neighbor, Dave Peterson, telling me that I'd better get my chairs out on Central Street by 7:30 a.m. on the morning of the Fourth of July parade.

That was 41 years ago.

Back then, claiming your spot on Central Street on the morning of July 4th was the norm. But somehow—and quite inexplicably—the chairs started appearing earlier and earlier. First, they showed up on July 3rd. Then July 2nd. Then July 1st. Eventually, people were staking their claims a full week before the parade. Central Street became cluttered with chairs lining both sides of the road, a phenomenon somewhat reminiscent of Chicago's wintertime "dibs" tradition.

My family members who didn't live in Evanston, but came to attend the parade with us, could never understand it. They were always amazed that nobody ever stole the chairs. It became one of our favorite inside family jokes. If we happened to have a warm, sunny day in April, one of my siblings would inevitably call and say, "Lisa, you'd better get your Fourth of July chairs out on Central Street."

As our family grew, so did the amount of space we claimed along the parade route.

One year, I made the rookie mistake of setting up near a storm sewer. I never did that again. Another year, the large shade tree that had sheltered our spot became diseased and had to be removed, forcing us to relocate. On the sweltering Fourth of Julys—which seemed to be almost all of them—I would haul over my patio umbrella and stand for a little extra relief from the heat.

One year, when my son was two years old, I even dragged a kiddie pool to our spot and somehow managed to fill it with water. There he stood in nothing but his diaper, sweat dripping from his temples, happily splashing while the parade preparations unfolded around him.

We invited family and friends every year, turning the parade into a full-fledged gathering. And, of course, there were always one or two trips to Hartigan's Ice Cream, located just a few feet from our spot on Central Street.

What began as a simple effort to save a place along the curb became a cherished family tradition—one marked by folding chairs, shade trees, patio umbrellas, ice cream runs, and generations of memories made while waiting for the parade to begin.