2026 INDEPENDENCE DAY IN HEATH
Speaker: Mayor Jeremiah McClure

This year's Independence Day celebration will go down in history as our nation marked the 250th anniversary of independence.

We celebrated in a very special way right here in Heath, with our annual 4th of July parade, followed by this wonderful grand opening of our Towne Center Park. It was truly heartwarming. It was a patriotic scene, watching all the citizens and visitors waving red, white and blue to honor our nation.

All of the features that have made our parade a meaningful tradition, they were all there. Tom the bagpiper. The Rockwall County Sheriff's posse leading with the American and Texas flags, our mighty Heath Hawk's band, our cheer, our drill team bringing their spirit, special dignitary guest, and so many more floats, bikes, trikes, jeeps, ATVs, and even patriotic pets. And as always, we're honored for those that continue to to serve for our freedom.

And we thank those veterans that came really, it was a great way that we were able to honor them. We thank everyone for participating, whether you were in the parade or you were watching the parade or you served as a volunteer, and we had many of them.

We're very, very grateful for all of you immediately following the parade.

The celebration continued at the Towne Center Park with the official grand opening. This event marked years of planning and investment and it really brought this vision to life. We even brought our first ever sandlot junior home run derby that benefited our Parks and Trails Heath fundraising program, and what a hit it was. 

The City of Heath also received music friendly Texas certification designation from Greg Abbott's Texas Music office.

It was more than a 4th of July celebration, and I am so thankful for all of you that were involved. It was an opportunity to commemorate this 250th birthday and honor so many and so much that we have to be thankful for. We're going to really be celebrating this for generations. So God bless America and God bless you and thank you all.