The Leeds Memorial Park during the Holiday Bicycle Parade is one of many upcoming events. Photo courtesy of Kim Sebastian.

Approximately 120 parents and children met at Leeds Memorial Park on Friday, July 1 to participate in the first-ever Holiday Bicycle Parade. This event brought the community together with plenty of patriotic red, white and blue to celebrate the kick-off of the Independence Day holiday weekend.

Children and parents with decorated bikes, tricycles, skateboards, scooters, wagons, strollers, or their comfy shoes made a parade lap around the walking track as patriotic marching music played while local firefighters, volunteers and onlookers cheered everyone on as children zoomed by. Leeds Police Chief Paul Irwin walked in the parade and handed out gold sticker badges to the kids. Clifford, the little brown dog and Nico, the black doggie, joined the parade and trotted happily around the track with their owners.

Fire Chief Chuck Parsons and firefighters brought a fire truck for the kids to check out and were on standby for any first aid needs throughout the event. Kids enjoyed having their photos made on the fire engine.

The parade festivities concluded with 10 prize giveaways and an invitation to join everyone downtown for the second 1st Friday Family Movie Night.

These free events were sponsored by the Leeds Area Chamber of Commerce, Leeds Redevelopment Authority and Leeds Jane Culbreth Library. This was the second of three major summer events scheduled for the Leeds community to enjoy.

The last 1st Friday Family Movie Night is scheduled for Friday, August 5. This event will be considered a Back to School Bash with food trucks and yard games as well as the last outdoor movie of the summer along with some other festivities. More details will be announced soon so be sure to stay connected with Everyone Leeds and Leeds Area Chamber of Commerce.

Leeds Area Chamber of Commerce is in the process of planning other major community events including the Cruising for Toys Charity Car Cruise-In, Downtown Trick or Treat, Downtown Christmas Tree Lighting, annual Christmas Parade and a brand-new event is being added to the line-up which is a downtown Kiddie Parade scheduled for April, 2023.

Everyone Leeds hosts a free community calendar on its website and a weekly blog as an aid in getting information out to the public on upcoming events. Anyone can subscribe to the free e-publication. Check out the community calendar and mark your own calendar so you will not miss a single event.

For more information about these upcoming events, please contact Sandra McGuire at 205.965.9392 and visit these websites — EveryoneLeeds.com and LeedsAreaChamber.com.