Grand Marshall Judith Burger rides in a 1928 Model A pickup on Sunday, July 4, 2021, during the Pendleton Fourth of July Parade.

PENDLETON — After a one-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the familiar sound of horseshoes on pavement, old cars and cheering crowds returned to downtown Pendleton Sunday, July 4, for the annual Independence Day parade.

“It was amazing,” said 10-year-old Tyler Smith.

Smith and his family gathered along South Main Street to watch the parade. As passing parade participants tossed candy, he darted from the sidewalk to collect it. Smith’s only gripe about the parade was a lack of variety in the candy, though he said it felt good to have the parade return.

Melissa Smith, the boy’s mother, said the parade seemed like the perfect way to kick off a summer without COVID-19 restrictions.

“I loved seeing everyone out and celebrating,” she said. “There’s just this sense of pride in the town and the country.”

That sense of pride was noticeable to Billy Turner as paradegoers rose, removed their hats and recited the Pledge of Allegiance alongside Turner before the parade began.

“It gives me and everyone else a great sense of hope,” he said. “It feels just amazing.”

In the minutes before the parade’s 10 a.m. start time, Turner took to the middle of the street, turned toward a large United States flag suspended from a pair of ladder trucks and recited the pledge into a microphone.

Turner said he began reciting the pledge at the parade roughly four years ago as an eighth grader in an attempt to add a more festive start to the parade.

“It was kind of bland without a grand entrance,” said Turner. “It just puts a smile on everyone’s face.”

As the parade got underway, crowds dressed in red, white and blue filled the downtown sidewalks as children clutched bags or buckets to collect candy thrown from floats. Masks were few and far between as people greeted one another and celebrated a return to normalcy.

Shortly after 10 a.m., members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Let ‘Er Buck Post 922 turned the corner from Southwest Dorion Avenue onto South Main Street as they carried the American flag. Paradegoers stood once again in recognition of the flag as several attendees raised their hand to salute.

For Judith Burger, the parade’s grand marshal and former commander of VFW Post 922, it felt weirdly familiar to be celebrating again.

“It’s almost like the last year didn’t happen,” she said. “But yet it did.”

Riding in a yellow 1928 Model A pickup truck, Burger smiled wide as she waved to people in the crowd. While she was selected to be the grand marshal of the 2020 parade, COVID-19 restrictions led to the event’s cancellation and the delay of her role until this year.

“It was really great to see people smile again and be able to smile at people,” she said.

Burger said she loved being able to see people talking to one another as she passed by them in the parade — something she said she felt had fallen away during the height of the pandemic.

“It was so exciting to see people without masks and out and about again,” she said.