Red, White & Blue carpet rolled out in Round Rock 4th of July Parade

Austin, Texas - The Round Rock 4th of July Parade got going under blue skies and by a lot of red white and blue up and down Main St.

"Every year this parade, it gets amazing support from the community, and this year I got reports we probably have over 20,000 people here and it’s amazing that this is a volunteer effort from the Sertoma group and volunteers from across the community come together and create and put together this parade. And then of course the outpouring of love and support from our Round Rock community members,” said Roger Heaney with Round Rock Parks & Recreation.

It’s a holiday tradition for many. Its Ray Garcia's third year attending. This patriotic dad brought his family which included new born daughter Ava.

"I retired out of the Army back in 2013, and we're down in Round Rock and it’s really nice. Patriots everywhere, it’s been growing last couple of years that I’ve seen it, and this is the biggest, this year,” said Garcia.

The parade, Tuesday morning, featured more than 80 entries. Along with bands there were dancers, caravans of vehicles and antiques.  There were mounted patrols and floats with candy being tossed off by riders. Justin Baldwin brought his modified jeep  called Fragile Rock.

"We enjoy it, it’s really fun with the 4th of July, I actually worked last night, so I'll stay up, this is fun,” said Baldwin.

It’s estimated that about 2,000 people help organize and participate in the parade. And FOX7 is one of the sponsors for this annual celebration.

Evening anchors, Mike and Rebecca, hitched a ride on a float put together by our production team. Meteorologist Scott Fisher walked the route beside our float. Sports Director Dennis de la Pena was the parade Master of Ceremonies.

From his perch, De la Pena said he was struck by the image of unity that he witnessed.

"The Republicans come through, you have the Democrats come through, you have the Muslims for Hope and Love come through and you start realizing, Oh yeah,  this is our country, we come all together, we are all in it together, and that is what hits me, what lights me up," said de la Pena.

That patriotic bond, for some, is something you just can’t shake.

"This is what kind of attracted us back to Round Rock area, we could have picked a lot of places, we chose to come back here,” said Jeff Dalrymple.

After the parade passed by the fun continued with the Frontier Days Celebration at Old Settlers Park.