INDIAN SPRINGS VILLAGE – Indian Springs Village’s 28th annual Fourth of July celebration featured all the tradition residents have come to expect but also some new attractions.

“It was awesome as usual,” Town Clerk Joan Downs said.

The parade began at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, July 4, at the Walmart shopping center parking lot off Caldwell Mill Road, and wound its way down several streets including Indian Crest Drive, New Hope Mountain Road, Miller Circle, Wildwood, High Gate, Arrowhead, Mountain Vista, Brook Green, Indian Trail and Alabama 119 to Town Hall.

The parade featured U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer and Alabama Rep. Arnold Mooney, and was led by Shelby County Sheriff John Samaniego and two North Shelby Fire Department trucks, including a new ladder truck that carried a large American flag.

A flag raising ceremony was held after the parade.

New to the celebration this year were various vendors, who set up in the shade at Town Hall for residents to shop while waiting on barbecue plates from Jim ‘N’ Nick’s that were enjoyed under the town pavilion.

“After the parade and after the flag raising, in the past everyone just stood in line to get their barbecue—in the heat,” Downs said.

Vendors included those selling locally made pottery and jewelry, and organic vegetables grown at Indian Springs School, Downs said.

Two new, large water slides were popular among the children at the event, and Indian Springs’ new multipurpose building served as a place for attendees to cool off.

Organizers noted the number of new faces at the event, Downs said and added that the town is undergoing a transition and seeing many new, younger residents.

Downs said event organizers and attendees alike were disappointed that event mainstay Jim Wyatt was unable to attend due to illness.

Wyatt was one of four residents, dubbed “The Pothole Crew” for their exhaustive volunteer work to improve the town, who were instrumental in the founding of Indian Springs Village and the annual Fourth of July celebration.

“Those guys worked so hard. You just don’t see that kind of volunteerism anymore,” Downs said and added that several of the men have passed away. “He was sorely missed this year.”

The celebration once again concluded with a dessert contest—judged by North Shelby Fire Department firefighters and won by Leigh Fran Jones—that Downs said is a reminder of the event’s humble beginnings.

“Originally, the town didn’t have any money, so everything had to be done by volunteers, as frugally as they could do it, as in everyone bringing a dessert,” she said.

The Fourth of July celebration and Indian Springs itself has remained true to its roots, Downs said.

“It’s almost like stepping back in time,” she said. “We’re smack dab in the middle of all these larger cities, but we’re still quaint. You get just such a family atmosphere. We love Indian Springs.”