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Crowds, campaigners turn out for 4th of July parade in Lake Placid

Hundreds of people, including this happy child, pack Main Street, Lake Placid, Thursday afternoon to watch the Fourth of July parade. (Enterprise photo — Elizabeth Izzo)

LAKE PLACID — Lake Placid’s Fourth of July parade fell under scorching skies this year.

Hundreds of people lined Main Street Thursday afternoon, many dressed in sparkly red, white and blue garb and waving tiny American flags. In front of the Palace Theatre, a covey of children chased one another around the sidewalk. As an electric vehicle carrying North Elba town Supervisor Roby Politi approached, a young girl in a red, white and blue dress with cropped blonde hair hung from her mother’s arms and grinned wildly.

The parade lasted roughly 45 minutes, and local politics pervaded throughout.

Politi declined to run for re-election this year after serving in local politics for a quarter of a century. Four candidates are running to take his place. Six people more are running for two town board seats in North Elba, and one county-wide race, for county clerk, is contested.

One after another, candidates, elected officials and their representatives walked in this year’s parade in Lake Placid. They included Gary Kaltenbach, an Independence Party and independent candidate for town supervisor; Richard Cummings, a town board candidate who won the Republican ballot line in last month’s primary and will also appear on the Integrity line in the November election; Doug Hoffman, a Republican and Conservative candidate for town board; and Jeremy Mihill, another town board candidate who lost the Republican primary but will still appear on the Integrity ballot line in November. Kari Ratliff, an independent candidate for Essex County clerk, walked alongside campaign volunteers with shirts that read, “Team Kari: She wins, we all win!”

A young girl holds out her hand to catch a water bottle being thrown by Lake Placid Police Chief William Moore during the village’s Fourth of July parade Thursday. (Enterprise photo — Elizabeth Izzo)

Representatives from the National Guard, the Lake Placid, Upper Jay and Wilmington fire departments, Lake Placid police and local ambulance squads marched alongside representatives of local businesses, nonprofits and veterans organizations.

Sports organizations were another mainstay: The New York Ski Educational Foundation, Can/Am Hockey, USA Luge, the Lake Placid Horse Shows and the Skating Club of Lake Placid were each represented.

(Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly said Mihill won the Republican primary and that Cummings lost.)

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