Jump ropes hit the pavement Sunday afternoon at Hyde Park’s annual 4th on 53rd celebration in Nichols Park. Kids practiced their drumming skills, dogs sported American flag bandannas and a family took refuge from the heat with ice cream in the shade.
Quamesha Brown, of DeKalb, traveled to Hyde Park with her daughter, Nadia, and her nieces and nephews. “We came from an hour away just to come up here,” she said. “To enjoy the festivities.”
The 4th on 53rd event, sponsored by the Nichols Park Advisory Council and the Chicago Park District, was back on this year after a pandemic hiatus. The annual parade was still on pause, but the council’s Fourth of July committee brought out carnival games, food trucks, art and music to bring an all-ages picnic to life after a year of social distancing.
Alona, 12, center, smiles as she does the double Dutch in Nichols Park at the 4th on 53rd Independence Day Celebration in Hyde Park on July 4, 2021. (Vashon Jordan Jr. / Chicago Tribune)
Hyde Park state Sen. Robert Peters, who grew up attending the celebration, tossed flying discs on a temporary course from Hyde Park Disc Golf.
Candice Washington, the director and CEO of Brown Books & Paint Brushes, a nonprofit that educates young children on Black culture through art and literacy, came to the park Sunday to distribute free children’s literature as part of a pop-up initiative called the Free Black Children’s Library.
The organization handed out about 300 books by Black authors and illustrators in an hour, she said.
“We know that the Fourth didn’t mean independence for Black people, especially enslaved Black people,” Washington said. “But we are still Americans, so we try to connect that American experience and that African experience and tell it to young children, tell it to families.”
Phyllis Singleton came to Nichols Park with her children, Bryce, Brooke and Liam, as well as her mother, a picnic organizer, her husband and her sister-in-law.
Magician John Measner entertains kids with tricks in Nichols Park at the 4th on 53rd Independence Day Celebration in Hyde Park on July 4, 2021. (Vashon Jordan Jr. / Chicago Tribune)
She picked up a couple of books from the Brown Books & Paint Brushes stand, including “The Story of Barack Obama: A Biography Book for New Readers.”
Singleton said it was exciting to be out and about. “Happy there was something going that the family could attend,” she said.
Jimmy and Angie Lee of Hyde Park attended Sunday’s picnic for the first time with their 3-year-old daughter, Clio. Clio participated in a painting activity, and the family also enjoyed the disc golf station, the magic show and the hula-hooping setup.
Children watch the John Measner magic show in Nichols Park at the 4th on 53rd Independence Day Celebration in Hyde Park on July 4, 2021. (Vashon Jordan Jr. / Chicago Tribune)
The Lees are originally from Taiwan. Jimmy Lee said that a celebration of freedom was also important to them because of Taiwan’s experience with an oppressive government and fight for democracy. “For us, it’s also very special,” he said.
Event organizer Camille Hamilton-Doyle, who has lived in Hyde Park her whole life, said this is her 28th celebration of 4th on 53rd. One of the things she enjoys the most, she said, is watching young mothers bring their kids out to the celebration.
“We’ve been lucky,” she said. “We’ve only been rained on once, and we still marched, and went to the park.”
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