Crown City History I N C O L L A B O R AT I O N W I T H C O R O N A D O H I S T O R I C A L A S S O C I AT I O N
The 4 Of July In Coronado th
B y C A R O L PA S T O R , C O R O N A D O H I S T O R I C A L A S S O C I AT I O N V O L U N T E E R
Coronado Historical Association
uly in Coronado means vacation time has returned. Visitors are enjoying our beaches, and our hordes of children are free from school. It also marks the return of the most anticipated holiday over the past 100 years—the Fourth of July in Coronado. The year the Hotel del Coronado opened, 1888, was also the year of the first Fourth of July celebration. It took place even before the incorporation of the city itself in 1890. The residents celebrated with decorations, a parade, and fireworks. It was said that every merchant along Orange
The Coronado Marching Band performing down Orange Avenue during a parade in the mid-1970s (between ’73 and ’76). (Courtesy of Lisa Krause.)
Avenue entered a float in the parade. People came from as far away as Los Angeles to see the festivities. Some said it was possible that about 11,000 people were there, even in that day and age. That first event was not too dissimilar to our current celebrations, except for a key difference: our parade and Independence Day events today draw nearly 200,000 people. From that simple first parade, we evolved into the two-hour current event with floats, marching bands, military displays and the many school groups representing Coronado. As far back as the mid-1970s, the Navy Leap Frogs joined in with demonstrations performed in the skies over waters near the Naval
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