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BELTON, Texas (KWTX) - From horses, to marching bands, and giant parade floats, the Belton 4th of July parade is always a huge hit, and every year hundreds of locals and visitors come to watch.

Some spectators there today, like Gary Knight, have been coming for years.

“We’ve been part of the parade since we can barely remember, when I was a toddler sitting on my dad’s shoulder, so this has been a big part of our independence experience every year for all of our lives,” he shared.

While others, like Anthony and Taves, are new to the parade tradition, but no less excited.

“I don’t have a part I’m excited about, I like all of it,” said Anthony. “It’s really fun.”

This year they had over 200 incredible floats featuring local businesses, organizations, and officials, which is part of what makes this parade so special to Central Texans.

Spectator Tiffany Lagos shared that “just all the different businesses coming together, you get to see the presentation from each and everybody. I think my favorite still is just watching all the horses come through.”

It didn’t take long for every inch of sidewalk and grass to be filled with people there to watch this year’s parade.

Gary and his siblings even camped out on the sidewalk overnight, which is something of a tradition for them.

“We stay up all night and just visit and talk to people that drive by, and just kind of get reacquainted with friends and make new friends,” he said. “We’ve been doing it every night for the last over 35 years.”

But it was their mom, Marjorie Knight, who started the tradition of coming to the Belton 4th of July parade every year, having been since she was a little girl.

“Since I was about ten years old… and I’m 90,” Marjorie said. “I used to march in the parade when I was younger with the band, with the marching 100 band.”

It’s memories and traditions like these that make this parade so special.

“It’s a great place where you can gather with your family, your friends, have really good fellowship, get excited about the birth of our country,” Gary shared.