Now 18 years old, Chloe Danielson holds a newspaper clipping from The World showing her in the Ninth Street Parade in 1998. She has several clippings, including this one, from her neighborhood’s annual Fourth of July Parade. For years, she thought the parade and celebrations were just for her, since her birthday is July 3. World Photo by Lou Sennick

Chloe Danielson’s Fourth of July tradition started small. She was small, too, when Coos Bay’s North Ninth Street held its first parade.

That first year, a handful of children marched or rode decorated bicycles. They cruised the block twice, then broke for cupcakes and lemonade.

It happened again the next year. And the year after that.

The event grew. The Danielson family and their neighbors, the Woodses, sent invitations to other neighbors, and the lemonade and cupcakes turned into a potluck picnic.

As the years passed, as many as 25 children joined the entourage. Joanne Verger, then mayor of Coos Bay, marched in one of the parades,  wearing a patriotic scarf.

One time, Alex Woods, now 23, climbed onto an electrical box to sing the Star Spangled Banner before the parade. That became a tradition, too, as did a quasi-marching band with trombone, guitar, flute and saxophone.

“It wasn’t exactly what you would envision in a marching band, but it was fun,” said Woods, who played the trombone.

After more than a decade of parades and potlucks, the tradition ended six or seven years ago. The Danielsons went to a family reunion in Reedsport that year, and the Woodses weren’t around either, Chloe Danielson recalls. It was hard to see it end, she said.

The two families still get together on the Fourth, minus the parade. Alex Woods won’t be there this year, because he is working as an engineer in Washington, D.C., designing rockets for the U.S. Navy.

He plans to watch the fireworks from the National Mall, but he has fond memories of the Coos Bay parade.

“That certainly was the biggest part of my Fourth of July for at least 10 years,” he said.

Danielson was partly responsible for starting the tradition. She was born July 3, and her first birthday prompted the first parade.

She turned 18 on Friday. She’s still in town, but she’ll head to Oregon State University in the fall to study to be a teacher. She hopes someday to renew the tradition with children of her own.

“It’s something I’ll definitely never forget,” she said.