4th Of July Celebrations

A man in a Boy Scout uniform playing a large drum labeled 'KORSCHGEN'S BAND ONE MAN' during a parade, with children watching from the sidewalk and a sign reading 'OLD FORT PLAYERS' in the background.

Parade

Celebrate the 4th of July with Fort Madison’s 113th annual Charlie Korschgen Kiddie Parade! This parade is dubbed as "the oldest Fourth of July kiddie parade in the USA" by American Magazine.

Charlie Korschgen Kiddie Parade
Park with a gazebo decorated with patriotic bunting, a red and white striped tent, and a booth selling colorful tie-dye clothing, with trees and a clear blue sky in the background.

Picnic

Celebrate Independence Day with us in Central Park! There will be live music in the afternoon and the City Band performs at 7:30pm. Various vendors will served food during the day!

Central Park Picnic
Fireworks explode in the night sky above a lit gazebo in a park, with trees and benches visible.

Party

Fireworks will start approximately 9:30 pm (will be at the discretion of J&M Displays technician). Ave H will be closed off to help with the viewing experience.

Fireworks

Parade History:

"𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑡 𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑖𝑛 1913 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑎 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑔 𝐴𝑇&𝑆𝐹 𝑐𝑎𝑟 𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑘, 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝐶. 𝐾𝑜𝑟𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑔𝑒𝑛, 𝑠𝑎𝑤 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑏𝑜𝑟ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑘𝑖𝑑𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑜 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐹𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝐽𝑢𝑙𝑦, 𝑠𝑜 ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑢𝑟𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑎 𝑑𝑜𝑧𝑒𝑛 𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑓𝑙𝑎𝑔𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑛𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑟𝑢𝑚 𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑒𝑐𝑘 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑘 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑀𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑜𝑛.

𝐻𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑎 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝐾𝑜𝑟𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑔𝑒𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠, 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑢𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑦. 𝐹𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦, 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 1930’𝑠 𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑠𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑖𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐴𝑇&𝑆𝐹 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑛𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑏𝑜𝑟𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑒.

𝑂𝑛𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑦𝑎𝑙 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑔𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑡𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑒, 𝐷𝑜𝑛 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑒, 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑦𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑙 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑖𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑖𝑛 𝐽𝑎𝑛𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑦 1966 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 53 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑠. 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑀𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝐽𝑎𝑦𝑐𝑒𝑒𝑠 𝑘𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒.

𝐵𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 1940’𝑠, 𝐾𝑜𝑟𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑔𝑒𝑛 𝑤𝑎𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 500 𝑡𝑜 1,000 𝑘𝑖𝑑𝑠 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑒, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑦 1946, 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑜𝑦𝑎𝑙 𝑂𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑀𝑜𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑠, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 “𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑙𝑑-𝑚𝑎𝑛” 𝑎𝑠 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑖𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑, 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑧𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑒. 𝑊𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑢𝑝 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑖𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑀𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝐽𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑜𝑟 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑧𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑜 𝑠𝑜 𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝐽𝑎𝑦𝑐𝑒𝑒 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 1999. 𝑆𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑎 𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑑𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑝 𝑜𝑓 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑒𝑟𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑘𝑒𝑝𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑛 2008 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑛𝑜𝑛-𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑓𝑖𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛." Fort Madison Daily Democrat - July 4, 2019

Be a part of this Fort Madison tradition tomorrow morning either by walking in the parade, watching along the parade route or via facebook live as we will take part in the parade!