La De Da Parade & 4th of July

At noon on the Fourth of July, the La De Da Parade lines up in the Presbyterian Church driveway in Yachats (pronounced YAH-hots). It steps off from 360 W. 7th St. and runs along Ocean View Drive to Beach Avenue. Every entry moves under its own power. Spectators bring blankets and lawn chairs and fill both sides of the route, or they watch from the State Park lawn at the west end of 2nd Street. On a sunny Fourth in 2025, the Lincoln Chronicle counted several thousand people along Ocean View Drive.

The 2026 parade fell on the nation’s 250th Fourth. It brought a tooth fairy, a family of shrimp, a Statue of Liberty, the cast of the Wizard of Oz, and dozens of other figures the Chronicle called “both patriotic and random.” A group in tutus danced to Young MC’s “Bust a Move.” A bystander jumped in to dance with the Comunidad Latinx group. Pat Torrey’s family and friends danced down West Seventh Street as the self-named Yachats Red Hot Rock Band, which has marched every year since 2003. In 2025 Torrey, who lives in Portland, led the band dressed in pink. The Chronicle suggested Yachats may hold “the most unserious Fourth of July celebration and therefore its name.”

Umbrellas, border collies and a flock of seagulls

The Yachats Precision Umbrella Drill Team marches in Marine-style formation and twirls colored umbrellas in cadence. Deb Fant, a member, has described the count: “Left/right/left, then spin your umbrella, open or close it while counting the number of spins.” In 2026 she marched in an inflatable frog suit. According to the Chronicle, such suits had become a trend in Portland the year before during anti-immigration and No Kings protests. “We aren’t supposed to be political but I thought the frog spoke pretty loudly for itself,” Fant said. Of the day itself, she said, “What we are celebrating is community and coming together.”

Behind the umbrellas in 2025 came the Border Collie Brigade under the banner “Keeping Ewe Safe.” Maryann Candito and Dana Bleckinger started the group a decade earlier because of the number of border collies in the area, and they marched that year with Misty and Pedro. The brigade does not check pedigrees. Dave Ledder dressed Juno, his Aussie doodle, in a border collie costume. Tim Schafer found that his basset hound, Bill, in a cowboy hat, was the only basset who showed up that year, so the two joined the collies too. “Isn’t that a basset hound?” someone called from the curb. Some of the brigade circled back during the parade’s bottle-ups to help with cleanup.

They had something to clean up because of the seagulls. John Aviani saw a flock of bombing seagulls in a televised parade in Pasadena, California, and borrowed the idea. Each marcher wears a large seagull on the end of an arm, and a pull of a hidden finger releases a load of whipped cream. “Cruising by the sidelines and pooping as close as you can without actually landing on somebody, that’s the challenge,” said Jonathan Fletcher, one of the flock. In 2025 the group, with one member wearing an eagle, went through 14 large cans of whipping cream. Mariah Vangarde, who came from Wilsonville with her husband, John, and their daughter, watched dogs lick up after them. “It’s the PR campaign seagulls needed,” she said. Her mother-in-law, Shirley, who lives in Yachats, called the parade “incredible.” Her husband, Richard, comes every year. He could not name a favorite, but the two noted that the “umbrellas work very hard.”

Behind the Commons until dusk

The parade is the middle of a long day. The 2026 program began with the Lions Club breakfast from 7:30 to 11 a.m., for a suggested donation of $10. The Yachats Farmers Market ran from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and added an extra day for the holiday weekend. The Yachats Area Trolley ran from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. for visitors who parked outside town. At 11 a.m., the Salute to Veterans gathered behind the Commons for a 30-minute sing-along and the retiring of the colors. In 2026 the Angell Job Corps Color Guard presented the flags. Over at the corner of 3rd and Pontiac, the Yachats Ladies Club sold a hot dog and chips for $5.

From 1 to 8 p.m., the ground behind the Commons, between the Pavilion and the Commons Gym, held barbecue, a beer garden run by Pelican Brewery and View the Future, yard games, and a bounce house. Bands played in front of the Pavilion: Grey Wails from 1 to 3, the Tipsy Chicks from 3:30 to 5:30, and a big band from 6 to 8. A kite show ran on the beach south of the bridge from 1 to 4, and chalk drawings spread over Ocean View Road from 1 p.m. until dark. Shops around town held pop-ups of their own. The Chronicle’s 2025 account adds music inside or outside every bar and restaurant.

At sundown, fireworks go up over the mouth of the Yachats River. An earlier chamber program closed parking at Yachats State Park after 1 p.m. so crews could set up the show. The Yachats Area Chamber of Commerce sponsors the celebration, and its executive director leads the Fourth of July activities, parade and fireworks included.

A variety show in 1995

The parade began with a stage show. In 1995, One of Us Productions, a Yachats theater group since disbanded, put on a fundraising variety show of songs and music. Carl Foster Miller, a board member of the group, told Oregon Coast TODAY that the show became the springboard for a Chamber-sponsored annual event, dubbed the la de da. “It only seemed fitting for a la de da parade to occur on July 4,” Miller said. Individuals, families and community groups have dressed in wild fashion for it ever since. Oregon Coast TODAY wrote about the parade’s return after a two-year pandemic pause. Its list of highlights included face painting, dancing, and a manure spreader that carried town dignitaries through the streets.

Mike Strauss, a former drill sergeant, first shepherded the Umbrella Drill Team and offered to teach the group actual Marine Corps maneuvers. After a few years he passed the baton to Miller, who served as drill master for the next 20 years. William Webster took over the duties in 2019 and held them until the pandemic halted all parade festivities. As with any volunteer outfit, the ranks rise and fall, from 12 to 20 marchers, with a peak of 35. “We never know from year to year how many will participate,” Miller said.

Practice starts fresh each year. “We take people where they are as we start our annual practices,” Fant said. “It is helpful to have the strongest members lined up strategically to support the newer folks.” The coast sets its own conditions. “Wind can cause your umbrella to blow out which can be a bit of a challenge,” she said. “Especially in the first 20 yards of the parade.”