After a two-year absence, the stars aligned — stripes, too! — for the return of the annual Monroeville Independence Day Parade.

Under a blue sky, with the temperature well into the red and white teeth gleaming from myriad smiles, parade observers started to gather well before the 9 a.m. start, their folding chairs lining Business Route 22 and, as soon as the authorities allowed, the road’s median strip.

While traffic continued to pass through a pair of lanes, the other two were devoted to a nearly two-hour procession of people from Monroeville, Pitcairn and beyond, many of them bearing gifts in the way of candy to be tossed to sweet-toothed onlookers.

For a fittingly patriotic touch, at the head of the parade were members of Forbes Trail Detachment 797 of the Marine Corps League, which meets at American Legion Star Post 820 in Monroeville.

After a while came the Miss Independence court, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Monroeville, and participants in the Decorated Bike and Wagon Contest. Both have been annual fixtures that return for 2022 with the parade, which dates back more than four decades, itself.

Representatives of various organizations, businesses, scholastic endeavors and emergency services followed, including Pittsburgh’s Syria Shriners, who wowed the crowd with vehicular feats that, no, you probably should not try.

Unless you’re a Shriner.

The sun continued to shine brightly as the parade wrapped up, but several hours later, as soon as the sky was dark enough, everyone in the vicinity of the Monroeville Mall Annex was treated to, of course, Fourth of July fireworks.

And when the smoke cleared, the stars could be seen clearly, finally aligned for 2022.

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