Parade Route Down Main Street in Port Jeff Will Be Closed to Traffic

You don’t get more Americana than a village named after a founding father and Port Jefferson will deliver the red, white and blue come July 4 with a parade sponsored by the .

According to assistant chief of the Port Jefferson Fire Department, Charlie Russo, the parade starts at 10 a.m. near the intersection of North Country Road and Main Street by the . It will travel down Main Street to the end and make a left turn on West Broadway where it will end in front of .

“Main Street will close at 9 a.m. all the way down to West Broadway,” he said. “And West Broadway will be closed to Barnum Avenue.”

Getting around the village will be tough from 9 to 11:30 a.m. and Barnum Avenue near West Broadway usually gets very crowded during parade so people should avoid the area.

The fire department works with the village highway department and Suffolk County Police for traffic control, setting up barricades and putting out garbage cans.

“There are going to be 15 fire departments, boy scouts, girl scouts, hot rods, tractors plus a couple of added groups in the parade,” said Russo.

He said the parade is open to the general public and held in “honor of our troops and our country’s birthday.”

After the parade ends at noon, village officials will swear in the newly elected village trustees at the grandstand across from Village Hall.

West Broadway around Village Hall and Barnum Avenue will remain closed for the ceremony swearing in the new trustees. The rest of the roads will be opened at the end of the parade.

Barbara Ransome from the said that no matter what day of the week July 4 falls on, the parade is always held that day.

“The parade is fairly large because it is one of the few on Long Island that’s always on July 4,” she said. “There’s lots of marching and it’s very homespun.”

The image of the July 4 parade in Port Jefferson is from the historical section of the village website.