UH to celebrate its first-ever July 4 parade

Dale Orians, who recently retired as UH police lieutenant, will be the grand marshal of the city's July 4 parade.

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The COVID-19 pandemic wiped out most city-sponsored activities in University Heights in 2020. Lingering public-health orders also canceled the city’s annual Memorial Day parade this year. But the city plans to make up for lost time and lost events by hosting its first-ever University Heights Fourth of July Parade.

The July 4 parade will begin at 11 a.m. Recently retired police lieutenant Dale Orians will serve as Grand Marshal.

The event will feature many returning participants from past parades in University Heights, including Judge Frankie Goldberg, the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Color Guard, Church of the Gesu members, Steve Ostrow’s Dixieland Band, City Dogs, CH-UH Board of Education members, the University Heights Library, Pickup-stix Stilt Walkers, members of UH City Council, and Mayor Michael Dylan Brennan.

Also scheduled to appear, heat permitting, is Cooper, the University Heights brand ambassador.

War hero, Founding Father, and the first President of the United States George Washington will be participate in the Independence Day celebration, as will other leading historical figures (courtesy of “We Made History”).

In addition to a Founding Father, the founder of America’s first boys’ baseball league will be celebrated. Ruth Morhard, author of Mrs. Morhard and the Boys, will appear with her husband, Al. Josephine Morhard, Al’s mother and Ruth’s mother-in-law, founded the first-ever baseball league for boys in University Heights in 1947.

Also appearing in the parade will be Leopold and Lenora, co-hosts of WUAB 43’s “Big Bad B-Movie Show.”

The new parade will follow the familiar route of the city’s Memorial Day parade. It will begin at the intersection of Silsby and Allison roads, travel east on Silsby, then turn right and move south on South Belvoir Boulevard. The parade will finish at John Carroll University.