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York FourthThe Fourth of July magazine of York, PA

Section 01 · Parade Guide

The parade guide to a York County Fourth

How the Fourth parades of York County run: the downtown loop around Continental Square, curbside etiquette, parking and the best viewing corners.

Small town Independence Day parade moving down a brick main street with paper bunting over storefronts and families along the curb

Every Fourth of July parade in York County shares a shape: a mid morning step off, a loop of a mile or two through the town it belongs to, fire trucks and fife drums and a slow river of candy. The differences are in the details, and the details are what this section records. Which corner gets the shade. Where the reviewing stand sits. How early a good curb on Market Street actually fills, and what the parking rules do to a family that arrives at nine for a ten o'clock step off.

We keep the guide practical on purpose: routes as they are run, landmarks you can hand to a visitor, the honest trade between the crowded square and the quiet block two streets over. If you spot a route change in your borough, write us from the contact page and we will fold it into the next edition of the guide.

In this section

  1. Wide view of a Fourth of July evening in a Pennsylvania park town, flags along a main street and families carrying folding chairs toward the fireworks grounds

    July 4th in York PA: the whole day, planned

    York celebrates the Fourth twice, once in daylight and once in the dark. Here is the whole day as the county typically runs it, from curb chairs at dawn to the drive home after the finale.

  2. Main street in a York County borough with a closed route sign, American flags on porches and families setting folding chairs at the curb

    Reading a York PA parade route

    Every parade route in York County runs on the same grammar. Learn the loop, the landmarks and the three questions to ask, and any borough map in the county becomes readable in a minute.

  3. Families on lawn chairs along a shaded residential curb with coolers and a stroller while a parade pauses in the distance

    Where to stand: curbs, shade and parking

    A parade is a standing sport. Here is the curb craft: shade by the hour, the parking reality of a closed main street, and the small kit that makes two hours on a curb pleasant.

The pieces of this section feed the day planned in the complete Fourth of July guide, and two neighbouring sections extend it: Fireworks Schedule and Revolutionary History.