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Fourth Of July Is 'Dibs' Time In Evanston

WBBM's Bob Roberts

(CBS) -- If Central Street in Evanston looks like a rummage sale, there's a reason: It's the time-honored tradition of saving spots to watch the North Evanston Fourth of July Parade.

It's like Chicago's  wintertime "dibs," except it's summer and the jockeying is for spots along the parade route, which runs from Central Park Avenue to Northwestern University's Ryan Field.

If it can be moved, it's holding down spots: blankets, chairs of all sizes, dog crates, ladders, umbrellas, mixing bowls, cribs, tables, bunting, tubs of driveway seal coat, picnic benches and even crime scene tape.

Shaded spots went first. One man and his and daughter midday Saturday settled for blankets atop cobblestones after looking along a three-block stretch of Central Street.

Until Evanston imposed an ordinance barring spot-saving till 6 a.m. July 1, dibs moved earlier and earlier, with some people staking out their spots three weeks in advance.  Central Street resident Colin McKeand said that was "insane."

The parade annually attracts close to 150 bands, floats and other entries. Colorful units from years past have included a marching kazoo band and the North Evanston Bunko, Parcheesi and Weight-Dropping Auxiliary, playing Dixieland jazz atop a flatbed trailer.

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