This year’s Cape Charles 4th of July parade left many residents wondering if our community celebration has lost some of its traditional charm. While the event maintained its patriotic core with the American Legion and veterans leading the procession, several concerning trends emerged that merit community discussion.
The most glaring issue was the town’s decision to implement a registration process for parade participants. A once very organic, community process was replaced with a bureaucratic hurdle that appears to have significantly reduced participation, creating a noticeably smaller and less vibrant celebration than in previous years. When local government micro-manages community traditions, it risks strangling the very spontaneity and grassroots participation that make these events special.
The absence of beloved parade staples—horses, agricultural displays, and a plethora of vintage automobiles and tractors—suggests that the registration requirements may have deterred longtime participants who previously joined informally. These elements have traditionally connected our community to its rural heritage and provided the authentic local flavor that residents and visitors cherish.
Editor’s Note: Not to be a total downer, there were great participants. The K-Coast float was happy, fun, and brilliant. The Cape Charles Sail Camp float was beautiful and quite ingenious, and the large contingent for Shore Soccer, celebrating Northampton’s State Championship, was joyous. Even a weak 4th is still a great day in Cape Charles, yet, after well over 20-years in and around this parade, this year’s seemed, at best, a bit lame. More than one resident noted that the whole affair seemed more geared toward commerce, funneling everyone down a chute of marginal, greasy food and goofy, irrelevant tchotchkes–although, it’s a bit late to complain about that. Cape Charles is what it is.
This year’s parade also highlighted the growing political polarization within our community. While the 4th of July should serve as a unifying celebration of American values, some participants chose to make overtly political statements that divided rather than united spectators.
The following comment in the Cape Charles Mirror seemed to sum up what many were feeling. “What a great parade! Led by the American Legion and proud veterans, it was followed up by the come here, government parasite crowd. A group of wealthy golf cart owners sporting rainbow flags ( the Dollar General was out of the old Soviet flags ) and signs of “We support Federal Workers”.
The presence of mind-numbing leftists displaying their support signs and t-shirt slogans (can’t you people cork it for one day?), while certainly their right, raised questions about whether drooling, low-bandwidth advocacy belongs in what should be a non-partisan community celebration. While this is cherished and legally protected speech, it struck some residents as inappropriate for a day meant to celebrate our shared national identity.
Cape Charles faces a familiar challenge affecting many small American towns: balancing the perspectives of longtime residents with those of newer arrivals, managing growth while preserving character, and maintaining traditions while adapting to change.
The tension evident in this year’s parade reflects broader questions about our community’s direction; are we becoming a place where bureaucratic processes override grassroots traditions? Are we allowing political divisions to overshadow shared values? Are we losing the simple, joyful community spirit that once defined our Fourth of July celebration?
To restore the Cape Charles 4th of July to its former glory, town leadership should consider:
- Eliminating unnecessary registration requirements that discourage participation
- Encouraging all residents to focus on shared American values rather than divisive political messaging
- Actively reaching out to traditional participants—farmers, car enthusiasts, and local organizations—to ensure their involvement
- Emphasizing the celebration’s role in building community unity rather than highlighting differences
The 4th of July parade should be Cape Charles at its best: neighbors celebrating together, local traditions on display, and genuine American patriotism bringing us together regardless of our other differences. With some course correction, next year’s celebration can reclaim that spirit.
Our community deserves a 4th of July that truly celebrates both our nation and our neighbors, not one that leaves residents feeling divided and disappointed.
Sure glad I didn’t attend this year. The parade has been getting weaker and lamer each year, for years now. Cape Charles is all about politics and beautification now. Oh and taking credit for someone else’s actions instead of taking responsibility for their own. We need to out the town council and the police department on everything they do. Or more like don’t do. It’s time to take Cape Charles back! It’s time to Make Cape Charles Great Again!
Completely agree with CC Mirror’s comments. I’ve actively run a business for 25 years in Cape Charles, and the change in the culture and the crush of visitors means that I avoid eating in restaurants or attending events.
No tractors.
No horses.
No vintage cars.
And no MAGA supporters.
Ya know why??? Because we don’t want to cause additional party separation.
I am genuinely curious…did y’all think you were gonna gain additional supporters with your display or did you just know that you were gonna piss a lot of people off?
I mean, can you imagine the backlash if there was a MAGA section?? They’d be calling for our execution.
IMO, respectfully, that was NOT the time or place for your free speech flex. Definitely put a damper on a beloved holiday tradition.
P. S. Democracy is not dead. It OVERWHELMINGLY voted for the current administration 🇺🇸💪🏼
Have different categories/sections for the parade.
examples; farm equipment, waterman/shellfish companies, antique or unique vehicles, kids on decorated bikes/scooters/4 wheelers, rescue equipment/Coast Guard boats, actual floats, a marching band/drum line, horses/livestock…Things that make this area special.
Kudos to the Cape Charles Sailing School.
Maybe limit the number of golf carts allowed to register so it isn’t just another golf cart event. I’ve seen it called the “Cape Charles Golf Cart parade”! As a town we are more than just tourist on golf carts!!!
Not sure how long you’ve lived here but the above mentioned “sections” have always been part of the parade. Not so this year.
Spot on, Wayne. It is so sad that the rabid left has taken over Cape Charles. What a shame that even the traditional July 4th parade has been ruined by them. It’s quite discouraging.
🤣
The lady who wants to censor free speech dares to call others the “rabid left”.
I used to enjoy going to Cape Charles during the holidays. It was a much needed break from Virginia Beach, Rehoboth and Ocean City.
CC was a place to relax and unwind in a stress free small town, that was rich in tradition.
Now it’s a place I avoid.
The town manager and council eliminated that small town charm, with their many amenities for the tourist.
I’ll just go to VB or Nags Head. Where at lease I can eat and enjoy the ocean for the price I feel comfortable paying.
The Christmas parade is a joke. It was more like Halloween parade now. The same with the lighting of Central Park.
I remember the young ladies singing traditional Christmas song. That is, if you were close enough to hear theirs beautiful voices. Because the town FAIL that “Christmas spirit” with that sucky sound system.
They should have focus on the quality of what they had instead of focusing on the new treading fades. The town developed too fast.
I would agree with restricting who is in the parade. Just make sure the person doing the approval is not a snowflake, some left winger or a politician.
Cape Charles is dead! Good luck on taking it back. But I will support you in your efforts.
I long to fall asleep on the front porch of my favorite B&B.
I did notice there were no tractors. I missed them. Other than that, call me naive, but I didn’t notice divisive signs and I loved the Community Unity group. Really positive messages in a time of polarizing politics.
I was disappointed to hear our President declare his “hatred” for all democrats” that was unsettling. I thought the town as a whole did a fine job of welcoming and celebrating the principals and freedoms this nation was founded on.
Thank you to all who contributed to this classic event.
There is a time and place for everything. A parade route always known to be full of children looking to wave small American flags and grab a handful of candy needs to be respected and protected. A group of adults adorned in flags promoting sexuality was disturbing at this time and place. They will claim it’s about acceptance and love but it’s a flag about who one chooses to have sex with. Creepy adults choosing to sexualize a parade full of children looked more like Pedophiles on Parade. If you recognize anyone on those golf carts do yourself a favor and keep your kids and grandkids far away from them.
I didn’t know the President gave a speech at the parade. Sorry I missed that.
I’m surprised he only hates democrats. I suspect most people would want to hurt democrats that had 1% of what was done to Trump, done to them.
The Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches, along with the Democratic National Committee and the main stream media, created hatred and division every day 24/7. Just wondering if you also found that disappointing?
People won’t believe this but I remember many mid-summer days when my wife, myself and our two large dogs spent all day on the beach hoping we would see other folks just to get to know someone new. Sometimes we did, but usually we saw no one. This wasn’t 1975; it was 2010. CC has flipped to a commerce hotbed in a flash. It was the best kept secret on the East Coast. Things change and maybe for CC that’s a good thing for most. A lot of us ‘oldtimers’ bailed out right after the Covid scam. We still keep in touch and everyone seems glad we left. Like Yogi Berra said, “the future ain’t what it used to be.”
What if Jesus Christ himself was marching in the CC parade with the 12 apostles carrying a banner saying, “Heal the Sick-Medicaid for All”? Would that be okay?
Absolutely ruined it.
They started requiring pre submitted “parade Golf Kart forms and subsequent inspections” and we stopped doing it…. i’m guessing they cost something…lol! Either way tho… We all stopped going. Used to be that families all over town worked feverishly, the night before making their carts cool with the kids etc. No more. Stopped being a fun neighborhoody kinda family thing. Sad. And the lefty guy with the upside down flag on the 4th of July is just simply an ass.
Some of the youth teams and bands and a few cart and floats were great though and those folks should be thanked for their hard work. Regardless of the diminished turn out.
Unique in many ways. Like the waters which surround her, subject to the ebbs & flows. Her earliest was in the 1890s through the 1950s. She bade farewell to the last ferries amid her first downward spiral; it wouldn’t be her last. Bound to a single commercial mode, neither she nor those relying on her would recover their losses. All too common in similar demographics, it might have been ideal to allow the Grand Madam to lounge in comfortable retirement; many old timers identified with her. Not to be, insights of wealthy developers, a quaint trolley to punctuate. The selling of one’s immortal soul cannot be undone. Change, good or bad, is inevitable.
Too big, too grandiose for its historic roots. Far too much diversification. Merchants eager to capitalize on tourism have a contrary effect. Money enters the character of a small, uniquely quaint town, and its soul withers.
Those entrusted with decision making, one false move. The fabric of health fails. Like the gaining momentum, once underway, it cannot be stopped. Neither is one going to take ownership.
The bookmark was on July 4, 2025. To keep the peace, imposed limitations. One needs only to turn on the news to witness that our nation is divided like never before, including the mid-1860s. A populace angry, not eloquent to appreciate why; kin turning against, vows dissolved by. Have we taken a good, hard look at what we’ve become?
Is this a memorializing of The Cape Charles, that once was?
Regarding the July 4th parade, balancing free speech and parade management is difficult. Town management did a good job.
However, a post parade analysis is in order to ensure priority continues to be given to maintaining a personal, patriotic, politically friendly parade spirit. Keep in mind politics was the core of the events that led to the first July 4th.
Editor’s Note: Political, yes, but remember, this is celebrated as the day the Declaration of Independence was sent to the printer, the day we formally joined together to become a country free from the Motherland…From this week’s History Notes…1776: The Continental Congress receives and votes on the draft Declaration of Independence, produced over the last 17 days by the “Committee of Five” who were tasked to explain clearly and completely the rationale for the thirteen English colonies’ formal and irrevocable break with the mother country. The committee consisted of John Adams (MA), Benjamin Franklin (PA), Thomas Jefferson (VA), Robert Livingston (NY), and Roger Sherman (CT). Jefferson, as we all know, provided the bulk of the draft, including the stirring preamble and the intellectual underpinnings describing a free people creating a self-governing society. The vote on this day was 12 in favor and one abstention (NY- the government of which was nominally opposed to independence, but allowed for its delegation to abstain pending lack of instructions from Albany). The political maneuvering and deal-making had been going on since early June, when Virginian Richard Henry “Light Horse” Lee submitted the first- very terse– resolution of independence, from which the Committee of Five based much of their work. The Congress spent the next two days modifying the text of the Declaration, including removing a significant section on the British imposition of slavery, which bothered Jefferson greatly. The final version was approved and sent to the printers on the 4th. John Adams believed that July 2nd would be a day celebrated throughout history as our national birthday; on this score, he was mildly mistaken.
Hell yes. Time for unity, not divide. The left has absolutely lost their mind because of their hatred for a president that absolutely adores this country. There is a complete lack of common sense on the part of the liberals. It’s mind boggling.
You, and the Editor’s Note, are 100% correct. But I don’t think it’s ONLY a lack of common sense, though that is certainly a common trait. The leftist Trump-haters are so obsessed with him that it overshadows all aspects of their life- in my experience, most liberals are angry. egocentric, and narcissistic. Thus, we saw the display of their pet causes- ‘pride’ flags, democrat slogans, etc etc at a community event that is supposed to be a UNIFYING celebration of our nation. They cannot help but insert their divisive messages into the spotlight- essentially high-jacking a public ceremony. Furthermore, a lot of the folks in the crowd were just as bad and these parade participants. An acquaintance happened to wearing a red hat with white lettering that said “God Bless America” on it, and was aggressively accosted by a woman who thought it was a MAGA hat. Really? And the dems wonder why their support base is ever-shrinking.
It’s only politically friendly if there are no REPUBLICANS making any comments right? When are you and your little COMMIE FRIENDS going to accept the fact that KAMALA LOST? This country spoke loud and clear on election day. Too bad the election was TOO BIG TO RIG!!!
Too big to rig. So you are saying that the hapless Democrats, the party of morons, idiots who ruin everything they touch, were actually so brilliant to have pulled off rigging a presidential election? Not a chance in hell. Trump lost to Biden. You are delusional.
If you think Biden won, you have Alzheimer’s just like Joe! LOL!
JOE WAS INSTALLED LIKE A TOILET.
By your own admission, you were outsmarted by Democrats. Doesn’t say much for you now does it? Out of curiosity, WHY do you RANDOMLY CAPITALIZE random WORDS?
Rock on, Deborah!
Bill Smith needs to read and review various videos of exactly what happened on election night and the days after.
The truth is there!
One needs to challenge their knowledge to prove that they are not an idiot.
The parade used to be a fun local event, where you threw candy to your friends. Now it’s all about tourists and trying to bring more money into the town. I used to put a lot of effort into the Independence Day parade and the Lighted Golf Cart parade. No longer. I choose to leave town on July 4th if I have other options. Cape Charles is no longer the town I moved to, and all my former neighbors who have moved to Kings Creek Landing, Tower Hill, or off the Shore altogether feel the same way.
Wayne,
Congratulations for having the courage to point out what many of your readers are thinking,
Bill Smith says:
July 8, 2025 at 5:21 pm
By your own admission, you were outsmarted by Democrats. Doesn’t say much for you now does it? Out of curiosity, WHY do you RANDOMLY CAPITALIZE random WORDS?
You are not real bright, are you? A real mental midget?
Scratch a Liberal and you will find a Fascist.
SiNce we ArE nOt in eleMenTary ScHOOL, wE Can CAPITALIZE aNy wORd OR lETTer WE wIsH .
Stuart is lashing out. Stuart is sad.
Says the man whose party is ‘lashing out’ with violence.
Stuart’s still a crybaby I see.
No, I am laughing out loud at you. You folks are as crazy as sh*t- house rats.