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Winter Park celebrates Fourth of July on the 5th

Event happens in-person after virtual-only celebration last year

WINTER PARK, Fla. – Live music, free watermelon and apple pies made Monday like no other in honor of Independence Day.

Winter Park held its 26th annual Fourth of July celebration and the crowd was ready to celebrate the federal holiday after the coronavirus canceled the in-person event last year.

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“It’s great to see everybody out and about and spending time with family and friends,” Tammy Enders said.

Enders lives in Winter Park and brought her dog “Winter” along with her on Monday. She said she’s happy the city moved forward with the event this year since it was virtual last summer due to the pandemic.

“It seems different this time it seems people are closer, closer to their families,” Enders said.

Things were a little different this year. Usually, the city will host an “Oath of Allegiance” naturalization ceremony for citizenship applicants but it was canceled this time.

“We weren’t able to have the Naturalization ceremony this year because we have to plan things in advance and by the time we had to make the call they decided it wasn’t a good time to have it. There were some protocols they needed to follow, and they couldn’t pull it together to get it organized but we are going to have them next year,” Craig O’Neil with the City of Winter Park said.

Jamie Lamoraux said she felt more than comfortable coming out to the event with her mother. The two wanted to celebrate America’s birthday the right way.

“We are vaccinated and there’s enough space, so everyone was spaced out and you don’t feel crowded and cramped,” Lamoraux said.