Champaign-Urbana is gearing up to celebrate the United States’ 234th Birthday this Sunday, July 4. The Champaign County Freedom Celebration will celebrate the birth of the U.S. in style with traditional Fourth of July events such as a parade and fireworks.

This year the theme for the Champaign County Freedom Celebration is “150 years of local heroes,” dedicated to the foundation and charter of Champaign in 1860 and the heroes that have lived and come to the town of Champaign for the last 150 years.

The grand marshal for this year’s festivities is U.S. Olympic Speed Skater Katherine Reutter, who won a Silver and Bronze medal this past winter in the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games.

Don Wauthier, the board president of the Champaign County Freedom Celebration, said he expects a large turnout for Sunday’s events.

“We are expecting a crowd from upwards of 20,000 to 30,000 for the parade,” Wauthier said, “and an attendance of 50,000 or more for the fireworks festivities Sunday night.”

The parade, which is scheduled to begin at 1:05 p.m. Sunday afternoon, has about 100 entries. According to Parade Coordinator Jake Cunningham on the Champaign County Freedom Celebration’s website, the parade will run from the Assembly Hall up to the corner of Lincoln Avenue and Illinois Street.

“The parade begins near First & (Kirby).” Cunningham explained. “(The parade) continues east on (Kirby/Florida) to Lincoln Avenue, then proceeds north on Lincoln Avenue to California. The parade units turn onto Illinois Street to disperse and exit the area at Goodwin Avenue.”

After the parade, residents are invited out to Dodds Park in Northwest Champaign for an evening of sights and sounds to celebrate the national holiday.

Chris Bell, the evening coordinator for the Champaign County Freedom Celebration, commented on all the events that will be taking place at Dodds Park on Sunday night.

“From 7 to 9 p.m. Captain Rat and the Blind Rivets (a 50s and 60s rock ‘n roll band) will be performing on the main stage of the park,” Bell said. “Also, Colonel Klink Inflatables such as a bounce house will be located near Bradley Avenue for the kids. We will have the singing of our National Anthem and the retiring of our nations flag by a color guard and around 9:15 or 9:20 we will have fireworks.”

Wauthier, who has been a part of the Freedom Celebration Committee for about 10 years, said the fireworks festivities should be a real treat.

“A spectacular fireworks presentation has been planned by Melrose Pyrotechnics which is choreographed to music,” Wauthier said. “This means that the fireworks are not simply shot off with music playing, but are timed and choreographed to sync with the music.”