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PROVO — Steve McIff said he attends the Freedom Festival parade every year with his family and just loves it.
"I grew up in Provo, and this is a family tradition, and we love the Fourth of July, and we like to celebrate as a family," McIff said. "It's a great tradition. We love all our leaders — we support the leaders that are in the parade. And we're a big fan of all that goes about with this."
McIff's teenage children camped out along the parade route Monday night to ensure they'd get awesome seats for the parade, and McIff joked his son did not get any sleep at all.
He and thousands of other people gathered along the streets of Provo to celebrate Independence Day at Utah's largest Fourth of July parade.
The America's Freedom Festival Grand Parade included dozens of beautifully crafted self-propelled floats, patriotic marching bands, military and vintage vehicles, local government leaders and even a few celebrities.
"It's one of the best parades in Utah. It's such a special day. We love the Freedom Festival and everything that it stands for, and we're just here to celebrate America's birthday," Gov. Spencer Cox said. "It's awesome to see so many people lined up for days waiting for this parade and we're lucky to be able to take part in it."
The parade attracts around 300,000 attendees every year, many of whom come from out of state. They travel to see Stadium of Fire then stay for the rest of the holiday festivities.
"It brings people from all over. We're seeing people here from all over the country today to celebrate," Cox said. "It's an awesome day to remember what makes our country so special."
The parade's theme is "to celebrate, teach, honor and strengthen the traditional American values of God, family, freedom and country." To incorporate more for the faith aspect, the parade committee invited the cast of "The Chosen" to be in the parade.
"We love Provo, and they have been great hosts. So the organizers asked if we would consider grand marshaling and it was an easy yes," show director Dallas Jenkins said.
The cast members usually stay in hotels in Provo when they are filming their TV show in Goshen. Jenkins said the cast is often recognized when in they're in town and they can't go to their favorite ice cream place, the BYU Creamery, without getting stopped by fans.
"We love our country and love God and love this opportunity to really mingle with and enjoy Provo. For us, it's a great opportunity to give back where we can," he said.
BYU President Shane Reese rode in car in the parade and said the parade is an important event to Provo and the BYU community.
"Not only is it the Fourth of July, but also our entry into the Big 12. I mean, this is an exciting time to be in Provo, Utah," he said.
Reese said people in Utah love their freedoms and enjoy having events to showcase that.
"This is an exciting day to celebrate our freedoms here in the United States and to celebrate those who have protected those freedoms," he said. "It's just an amazing day and I love being a part of it."
Jerroleen Sorensen has lived in Utah for the past 11 years but this was her first time coming to the parade. All of her kids and many of her grandchildren are in town visiting so she decided they should all go to the parade.
"I don't usually like parades that much, so that's why I didn't come for so long. I was not expecting much," she said. "I loved it. It was one of the best parades I've seen in a really long time."
When she was younger she would go to the Days of '47 parade in Salt Lake City, but as she grew up and moved overseas, she stopped going to parades. Some of her family members got to the parade route at 5 a.m. Tuesday to save their seats.
"It was pretty early, but it was a great seat though I have to say!" she said.
