The Northland Community Fourth of July Parade, started in 1962, is the only traditional parade on the 4th of July in Columbus, Ohio!

This parade is a completely volunteer effort which requires hundreds of hours of dedicated work to pull together this annual event. We ask our commercial and political partners to pay a fee each year for the parade which helps support it. The funds pay for the permit, police, insurance, trash pick-up, crowd control, banners, signs, float awards, and the wonderful grants we are able to give to our High School programs. These funds are raised entirely by the volunteers asking for donations. This year we have added an opportunity on the entry form for you to donate to help the parade as well. We ask that you consider donating if you don’t pay a fee and if you do, if you could add an additional donation, that would be very much appreciated.

Finally, if you know of anyone who would be interested in volunteering for the 4th of July Parade – before or during the parade – please have them email chair@northlandparade.org. We have plenty of positions for anyone who wants to volunteer and many hands make light work!

2024 Parade Documents

2024 Theme Diamonds of Columbus

Traditionally, the 60th anniversary is the diamond anniversary. This annual parade that started in 1962, sadly, had to miss a couple of years due to COVID. This means the 2024 parade is the 60th parade and we’re making this our diamond parade! For parade float designers, a 60th anniversary is a great accomplishment. Please keep that thought in mind and use your imagination to create something great! Spectators should expect to receive some candy and freebies and swag!

Diamond Groups are for people that want to participate, share their achievement, to celebrate together, and to be celebrated! Please use an appropriately decorated vehicle! Below are some suggested groups. Feel free to suggest any other diamond clubs.
  • Diamond Anniversary Group – couples that were married on or before the Fourth of July 1964.
  • Diamond Graduate Group – any student that graduated prior to the Fourth of July 1964 or graduated in the 2020’s. Any school. Any diploma. All graduates should display the year of graduation.
  • Diamond Grandparent Group – any person with 60 or more grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren! Wait … 60?! Really? No, not really. Our thoughts are if you’re a grandparent, you’re a diamond! Please show us how many descendants you have!
  • Diamond International Group – any person that wants to respectfully and appropriately represent any country. See our goals below.
  • Diamond Senior Group – any person born on or before the Fourth of July 1964.
  • Diamond Student Group – to recognize the achievement of any student. (athletic, civic, scholastic, …) The student would need to display what they achieved so spectators can appreciate the student’s success.
  • Diamond-To-Be Group – any person born in the 2020’s. Must be accompanied by at least one proud and responsible family member.
  • Diamond Vehicle Group – any vehicle with a model year of 1964 or earlier. Please make sure the spectators can see your vehicle’s year.
  • Diamond Veteran Group – any age, any veteran, any uniform!
  • Please include your diamond group’s name on the registration form.
  • Your family and friends may participate with you to help us recognize and celebrate you!

2024 Goals for the 60th parade

  • To recognize the vast population diversity within Columbus, our inclusive goal is to have 60 countries represented!
  • To bring more community members to the largest social event of the year within the Northland area, our goal is to have 10,000 spectators!
  • To meet these goals, we need you to be a sponsor, a participant, a volunteer, and/or a spectator! Please email us how you want to help!

Grand Marshal Steve Thompson

Steve Thompson has always lived in the north Linden and Northland area all of his life. He went to St. James the Less elementary school and then graduated from St. Francis DeSales High School in 1970. He was at the grand opening of Northland Mall in 1964. Steve married in 1976 to a wonderful woman and has two children and 5 grandchildren. In 1988, Steve and his family moved into the Northland area and he became a Northland Community Council (NCC) representative from his local civic association. Something about NCC resonated with Steve – he quickly became an officer, starting as secretary, then as vice president, then president and finally as treasurer. When Steve was president, he was able to receive a grant from The Columbus Foundation to plant 100 trees along State Route 161. Along with upgrading the 22 landscaping boxes at the major intersections along SR161.

In 1999, the Northland Fourth of July parade organizers, Northland Jaycees, decided to turn over the parade to NCC. Steve was one of the first committee members to help organize the parade that year. Steve stayed on for another 10 years to continue to organize the parade and make it the best and only traditional Fourth of July parade in the city of Columbus.

It was during this time that Northland Mall was in the process of closing. The area leaders decided to start up two new organizations, the Northland Area Business Association (NABA) and Northland Alliance (NA). NABA was to bring the area business leaders together and create awareness to potential shoppers. Northland Alliance was designed to be a think tank of area leaders to come up with ideas to make the Northland area a better place to live, shop and grow.

Through its efforts from NCC, NABA and NA, the Morse Road Special Improvement District (SID) was created to upgrade the infrastructure along Morse Road. Shortly after the SID was created, Steve became the treasurer.

Steve has always been involved in the Northland community and will continue his support of the area. It is through his and other key area leaders that will continue to make the Northland area the best place to live in Columbus!

Parade History

The parade’s history is listed here: Parade History.

Please be patient as our volunteers update this site.