CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Mary Day didn’t have to go far to watch this year’s Freedom Festival Parade. She and her friend, Vivian Baier of Cedar Rapids, sat outside of Day’s condo in Hiawatha on Saturday, June 27, 2026, to watch the floats, bands, trucks and other entries wind past her driveway. This was the […]
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Tag: Freedom Festival
Freedom Festival Parade moves out of Ced...
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — A long-standing highlight of the Freedom Festival will make a move this summer. The Freedom Festival Parade, typically held in downtown Cedar Rapids or in the Czech Village/New Bohemia District, is moving to Hiawatha. The parade is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday, June 27, 2026. A new event, Stars and Stripes […]
Signature Freedom Festival event heats u...
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — A change from the usual morning parade gave extra heat to the sweltering afternoon Freedom Festival event in New Bohemia. As part of a new Patriotic Fest in the New Bohemia area, the 30-minute parade made its way down Third Street SE into Czech Village, flanked by spectators who braved temperatures […]
Crowds flock to downtown Cedar Rapids fo...
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Thousands of spectators lined the streets of downtown Cedar Rapids, as cloudy skies cleared halfway through the 90-minute Freedom Festival Parade on Saturday, June 29, 2024. After scorching temperatures in 2023, this year, 75 parade entries made their way down Second and Third avenues, ending at Greene Square, with relatively mild […]
Photos: First Freedom FEASTival in Cedar...
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Sunny skies and mild temperatures welcomed the inaugural Freedom FEASTival in downtown Cedar Rapids. More: Freedom Festival adds new event Customers queued up at a dozen food trucks that lined the perimeter of Greene Square during the free event, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, May 3, 2024. The Freedom […]
Freedom Festival adds new food event for...
UPDATE: The site of Freedom FEASTival has been changed to Greene Square Park in downtown Cedar Rapids. CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Freedom Festival organizers announced a new food event that will serve as a fundraiser for the popular festival in Cedar Rapids. The event, Freedom FEASTival, is set for 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, […]
Photos: 2023 Freedom Festival Parade
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — This year’s Freedom Festival Parade escaped the rain that dampened festivities the past two years, even as severe thunderstorms threatened the area. More than 50 entries entertained the crowd that lined downtown Cedar Rapids on Saturday, June 24, 2023, as temperatures quickly soared into the 90s. Canceled in 2020 due to […]
Photos: 2022 Freedom Festival Parade
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — For the second year in a row, rain dampened the Freedom Festival Parade, but showers let up in time for the parade to begin. More than 60 units were registered for the parade through downtown Cedar Rapids on Saturday, June 25, 2022. This was the second-year comeback for the event, which […]
Freedom Festival 2021: Rain on our parad...
The bane of outdoor events didn’t halt the comeback of the Freedom Festival Parade. Rain kept crowds at bay, but the parade returned to downtown Cedar Rapids after last year’s cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior years were staged through New Bohemia and Czech Village as construction was underway in downtown’s Greene Square. See […]
Organizers cancel 2020 Freedom Festival ...
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Organizers of the Freedom Festival announced April 21 that the 2020 festival will be canceled, due to coronavirus concerns. “In the 37 years of our Festival, we’ve not ever had to have the heavy conversations that we have had over the last few weeks; taking into consideration the latest news of […]