DECATUR - The holiday spirit of the children who paraded through the Victoria and Edgewood neighborhoods, just off West Main Street, remained strong despite nearly constant rain Saturday.

Andrew Duwa, 9, led the red, white and starry blue Fourth of July parade on his decorated bike with patriotic spinning pinwheels on the handlebars.

Grace Buxton, 5, not far behind in her Uncle Sam top hat, rode her scooter that had a big bow made of red, white and blue ribbon tied to the front handlebars and a string of soda cans tied to the back.

The children managed to circle the block a few times when the rain let up a little.

Despite rainy conditions, the Victoria, Edgewood, Manor Court Pool Club continued its longtime tradition of a neighborhood Independence Day celebration on Saturday.

It first started back in 1957 by Dr. Walter Winter who created the neighborhood pool in his back yard.

Marsha Daniels, now owner of the property and pool, carries on the legacy.

"I have found that summer brings out a lot of children in the neighborhoods who don't know the adults and the adults don't know many of the children. And we have new people always moving into the area. So I wanted us to have that sense of community in the neighborhood and keep it that way," she said.

Daniels' sister, Anne Noland, also used to live on Edgewood Court before moving to Willowbrook, outside Chicago.

"I remember this being a neighborhood tradition when I was here in the 1970s," she said. "It still remains an old-fashioned Fourth of July. And I come back because it's about families and the focus being on the kids. The only thing different now is the people."

Christy Noland, who is the daughter of Anne Noland, also lives in Chicago and returned to the neighborhood with her three young sons.

"When I was living in this neighborhood, we played a few games and ate cupcakes by the pool. Now the neighborhood made it a bigger and better celebration, with a block party, parade and sometimes even a live band playing."

Helene Kovlacik came up with the idea to add a neighborhood parade three years ago.

"There are so many children in this area ages 10 and under. All the kids know each other and play together. So I thought it would be something to do for the neighborhood without driving somewhere," she said.

Her husband, Tim Kovlacik, even loves helping out by making sure to wear a red, white and blue clown wig in the parade and painting children's faces.

He drew a red heart with blue stars on the side of Abigail Smith's face.

Being a history professor at Millikin University, Kovlacik couldn't resist telling the story of John Adams, second president and an original Founding Father, about writing letters to his wife also named Abigail. She too was a strong advocate for independence and early on women's rights, he said.

The face painting resumed as five-year-old Ethan Stoltzfus was excited about the rocket ship with the letters U.S.A. drawn on the side of his face.

This was the first time Erin Buxton got to participate in the neighborhood celebration since joining the pool club three years ago.

"For the last two years we have been out of town at other family functions and this is all my daughter, Grace, talked about doing whether rain or shine," Buxton said.

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