Jacksonville Rotary opens Fourth of July parade entries through June 26

Church floats, school groups and local businesses still have time to line up for Jacksonville’s Fourth of July parade, where this year’s theme, “Celebrating Freedom, Service, and Impact,” puts community participation at the center of the holiday. The parade is set for Saturday, July 4, 2026, and will begin at 10 a.m. from the Morgan County Fairgrounds.

Entry forms must be submitted by 5 p.m. Friday, June 26. On parade day, on-site registration will run from 8:30 to 9:45 a.m. at the Southwest Gate of the Morgan County Fairgrounds at Westgate and Horsebarn Road. Floats and long vehicles must arrive by 9 a.m., and late entries may be placed at the end of the lineup if space is available. Lineup positions will be assigned in the order participants check in.

The route is built to put entries in front of downtown Jacksonville’s summer crowd. From the Morgan County Fairgrounds gate on Grand Avenue, the parade will head east on West State Street, circle Central Park counter-clockwise, continue north on North Main Street and end on or near Douglas Avenue. That path gives civic groups, churches, schools and other organizations a visible stretch through the heart of the city as residents gather along the route.

Rotary’s safety rules are strict. All vehicles and drivers in the parade must be properly insured, drivers must be at least 25 years old and hold a valid driver’s license, and multi-vehicle entries must check in together. Those requirements leave room for floats, decorated vehicles and coordinated entries, but they also make clear that organizers want the parade to run with a careful, orderly structure.

The club’s archive shows the parade is part of a longer Jacksonville tradition, not a one-year experiment. Last year’s theme was “Unite for Good,” and Rotarian Karen Walker, executive director of Prairieland United Way, served as parade marshal. This year’s theme keeps that same civic tone, framing Independence Day as a public moment for service groups, families and neighborhood organizations to show what they do for Morgan County. By June 26, the lineup will start taking shape, and by 10 a.m. on July 4, Jacksonville will once again be on display block by block.