Placitas Celebrates the 4th

If it's July 4, expect a Placitas parade.

If there is such a thing as an organic parade, the one sprouting in Placitas every Fourth of July qualifies.

Go looking for a registration form, and you won't find one. Rules are common sense, but hunting for a copy is futile. Anyone can watch or join in.

That could be a hangover from hippie days of the 1960s although some organizations later took formal charge of the parade for brief periods. The event ebbed and flowed over the years before Jake Archibeque and then Lou Stephens and now Jimmy Madueña took over.

Madueña said he heeded Stephens' advice to skip formal organizing and simply line up parade participants along State Road 165 in the village. Then get out of the way.

"I have a committee of, let me see, one," Madueña said. "It's called the Keep it Simple Committee. "We run on a real tight budget, zero, except for some candy."

This year's parade seemed longer than recent years with an extended line of classic cars and trucks, he added. And the crowd lining both sides of the highway seemed bigger, too.

For the first time this year, the Las Placitas Presbyterian Church situated on the route staged a family event and fundraiser during and after the parade. The event included refreshments, notably cold water on a near-100-degree day, and two bouncy houses,

Donations went into the church building fund.