“Classy 4th of July” parade

Dressed as Uncle Sam, Skip Daley rides past Sample Gates in the back of a truck. Daley organized a small 4th of July Parade for his daughter, who had never missed a 4th of July parade, Saturday, July, 4 2020 in Bloomington, Ind. This year’s parade was canceled due to COVID. (Photo by Jeremy Hogan/The Bloomingtonian)

When the 2020 4th of July parade in Bloomington was canceled due to COVID, Skip Daley realized it would be the first time his daughter had missed the parade. So, Daley took matters into his own hands and arranged a small parade past the Sample Gates for his daughter, and a few others.

Daley said he remembers an episode of “The Office,” called, “Classy Christmas,” when in the episode of the tv show instead of hiring a band a tv character hired a musician to play for hours for the price of an hour. It was then that Daley hired Bloomington Musician Ron Kadish to play bass at the Sample Gates. Daley decided to call the parade, “Classy 4th of July.”

A small group of vehicles gathered before 11 a.m., including a member of the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, and the parade began.

Vehicles passed the Sample Gates several times, until finally Daley emptied the final contents of his bag of candy by asking kids to move away, then dumping it.

Ron Kadish, packing his bass into a carrying bag, said playing during the parade might have been his shortest gig ever, and strangest.