Retirement home hosts ‘Wichita’s shortest’ July 4 parade

Residents of LakePoint Wichita retirement community lined up Thursday on the sidewalks outside their home for a special celebration.

They filed out in wheelchairs adorned in red, white and blue tassels. Many held flags and pinwheels that danced happily in the cool morning breeze, a rare blessing for a July day.

Over the sounds of big-band music, one resident commented, “What a nice day for a parade.”

“Wichita’s shortest” Fourth of July parade, as proclaimed by organizer Vickie Strawder, ran just over one-eighth of a mile, from one end of LakePoint’s parking lot in west Wichita to the other.

What it lacked in length, it made up for in spirit. Just before the start of the show, Strawder was bounding back and forth across the parking lot preparing last-minute details. In between directing a woman dressed as the Statue of Liberty and checking on the hot dogs, Strawder talked animatedly with the residents.

For many, the parade was a rare treat.

“I was talking to them one day and they said, ‘You know, we haven’t been to a Fourth of July parade in years,’ because it’s too far for them to walk, and they can’t take the heat,” Strawder said.

So instead, LakePoint brought the parade to them. The display included everything you would expect from a traditional Fourth of July celebration, and then some.

One resident sat atop a cherry-red convertible as the parade’s official homecoming queen. Following her were life-sized Barbie and Ken in a pink Thunderbird. Other characters included an Egyptian queen, a cowboy and Little Bo Peep.

“The theme is ‘be whatever you want to be,’” Strawder said.

Many in the crowd were veterans, like 91-year-old John Ransom, who said he served in World War II and the Korean War. Ransom said he enjoyed having the parade right outside his door.

“You get sleepy and tired if you go to the big parades,” Ransom said.

Ruth Phillips was able to sit on her own porch bench as the parade went by.

“This is one of the best I’ve seen,” she said. “Vickie has done a wonderful job.”

Kelly Anderson of Good Shepherd Hospice said events like this are important to the retirement home.

“I think it builds morale and helps the community feel like a community,” Anderson said.

The parade lasted about 15 minutes before wrapping up with hot dogs and chips.

John Myers, a Gen. Douglas MacArthur impersonator, visited with residents as they ate. Myers attends lots of events as the general but said a parade of this size is rare.

“It’s one of the shortest, but really nice,” Myers said. “I think it’s wonderful that they do this for the residents; they’re great people and this is a good place to live.”

This story was originally published July 2, 2015 at 4:49 PM with the headline "Retirement home hosts ‘Wichita’s shortest’ July 4 parade."