4,000 Cheer Old Glory and La Mesa Americana in Flag Day Parade

Mayor Art Madrid said as many as 4,000 people lined La Mesa Boulevard for Saturday morning’s Flag Day Parade, a La Mesa tradition evoking a Norman Rockwell painting of Americana.

The 14th annual parade through the downtown Village offered residents and visitors a slice of “down-home country” American pie.

Kids and parents came bedecked in patriotic colors―some as spectators, some as participants. Storied veterans said “Aloha” to steady applause and “Thank you” for each picture taken.

Beauty queens waved to an adoring crowd from classic cars. American flags in every direction flapped in the breeze, including a “living flag” human version.

As one resident said, the parade is such an example of classic Americana that parts of the lauded film Little Nikita―a 1988 espionage thriller about Russian sleeper agents in the United States―were filmed in La Mesa and featured a similar event.

With members of the 1961 Little League World Champion team as grand marshals, the parade proceeded west on La Mesa Boulevard  Memorial Drive to just across Spring Street.