Longboat Chamber seeks permission to resume Freedom Fest

The Longboat Key Chamber of Commerce has requested permission from the town to resume the annual Freedom Festival celebration and parade after missing a year in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In a letter emailed and sent though the U.S. Postal Service to Mayor Ken Schneier, chamber president Gail Loefgren requests a temporary street closure on Sunday, July 4 for the event, billed annually as the world's shortest parade.

"It is with great optimism that the Longboat Key Chamber of Commerce would like to request the closing of Bay Isles Road,'' she wrote, adding she hopes all seven town commissioners agree to take part in the parade. 

The chamber also requests the waiver of the $100 permit fee, which is routinely granted for such events.

Loefgren's letter said the chamber and event organizers will work closely with the town's Public Works Department, police and fire agencies in the planning and that all Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines will be followed. 

In 2020, in lieu of the annual parade, a patriotic film featuring the leaders of Longboat Key’s service clubs — the Garden, Rotary and Kiwanis clubs — gathered at Bicentennial Park for a Fourth of July flag-raising celebration was made.

In 2019, the 17th annual parade featured fire and police vehicles, a pet-costume contest, kids on their decorated bikes, Uncle Sam  passing out beads to excited kids watching and Aaron Watkins on stilts playing "When The Saints Go Marching In" on the harmonica. 

"Basically, it is an old-fashioned community celebration of the Fourth of July,'' Loefgren wrote. 

The event is planned for 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.