From rowboat races on Fairmount Lake to Roman Warren's fireworks-laced flight over Mt. Rubidoux, Riverside marked the nation's 150th birthday in unforgettable fashion.
This Independence Day, we set aside our usual single profile to gather the voices of nine Riversiders: different ages, different roots, different neighborhoods, all reflecting on what this city means to them.
A "Take One, Leave One" kindness rock garden invites passersby to share a little joy. (Jennifer O'Farrell) Have a photo that captures the spirit of Riverside? Share it with us and help celebrate the beauty of our community!
Sunday Gazette: July 5, 2026
Hello Riverside, and Happy Sunday! This week will look a little different around here. The newsroom is taking a short summer break, so you won't see a newsletter Tuesday, July 7 through Saturday, July 11. We'll be back Sunday, July 12 with a light edition, and Monday, July 13 with This Week in City Hall.
Consider it a breather, for us and hopefully a little extra sunshine time for you too. Thanks for your support and understanding.
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Thank you to the Subscribers who became paid supporters this week: Kara Shea and Davis Crohn, Amy Gaines, Patricia D Holub, Karen Jakpor, Jill A Johnson-Young, Christine Martin, Sharon Mateja, Aidan McGloin, Faye Merchant, Riverside Interfaith Council, Joanne Viafora, and Shari Yates. Your ongoing financial support is vital to our success in serving Riverside with the news it deserves!
The Sesquicentennial in Riverside: 1926's Most Talked-About Fourth
From rowboat races on Fairmount Lake to Roman Warren's fireworks-laced flight over Mt. Rubidoux, Riverside marked the nation's 150th birthday in unforgettable fashion.
Rowboats on Fairmount Lake from an earlier July 4 celebration in 1912. (Courtesy of the Riverside Main Library Local History Archives)
From June 1 to December 31, 1926, the United States celebrated 150 years of American Independence. The main Sesquicentennial Celebration took place in Philadelphia and featured an International Exposition. President Calvin Coolidge delivered a speech on July 5, 1926, at the Philadelphia site, emphasizing the principles of the Declaration of Independence.
Celebrations transpired across the nation, especially around the Fourth of July. Riverside and its people joined in commemorating our country's 150th anniversary with events, especially on July 5. Merchants used the event to tie together their businesses with the historical occasion.
With July 4 falling on a Sunday, some local ministers joined in by preaching sermons connected to the celebration. Dr. W. C. Selleck of All Souls Universalist Church spoke on "The Achievement of American Independence," focusing on the works of Thomas Jefferson. G. H. Hillmer, pastor at Immanuel Lutheran, delivered a sermon titled "Why We Love Our Country." Calvary Presbyterian Church and the First Congregational Church held a joint union service that Sunday morning with patriotic music and a sermon. On Sunday evening at the Y.M.C.A. city-wide patriotic service featured representatives from many of the Riverside churches with music beginning with "America" and ending with the "Star-Spangled Banner." Dr. Ira W. Barnett of Calvary Presbyterian delivered the sermon on "The Patriotism of Jesus."
This Independence Day, we set aside our usual single profile to gather the voices of nine Riversiders: different ages, different roots, different neighborhoods, all reflecting on what this city means to them.
Top row, left to right: Bob Smith, Evelyn Shea, J Pash. Middle row: Jonathan Tejeda, the Reverend Canon Kelli Grace Kurtz, Paul Knopf. Bottom row: Rohini Acharya, Rosy Aranda, Surekha Acharya. (Brenda Flowers)
Riverside is not one story. It is eleven relatives resting beneath Mt. Rubidoux, a carriage ride circling the Mission Inn on Christmas Eve, a pole vaulter clearing the bar at Martin Luther King High School, a classroom full of students still teaching their teacher something new. It is a city built by people who came from somewhere else and people whose families have never left, and somehow, we all call it home.
This week, in the spirit of the holiday that asks us to remember who "we" actually are, we set aside our usual single Neighbor of the Week and instead gathered the voices of nine Riversiders, different ages, different roots, different corners of the city, and asked them what Riverside means to them, who shaped them, and what they hope comes next. Their answers, together, are a small portrait of a big-little city.
This week, we put down the ruler and pick up something much harder to measure: the sights, smells, and sounds of the Fourth of July.
And not just any Fourth of July. This one lands on America’s 250th birthday, which means our nation has officially reached the age where it should start stretching before getting out of bed. Two hundred and fifty years is a lot of history and argument.
Maybe that’s why this year’s smells include the usual summer suspects—sunscreen, chlorinated pools, barbecue smoke, fireworks haze—and also, in honor of the semi quincentennial, let’s add birthday cake icing and melting candle wax. That is a load of candles. That is also a serious fire safety concern; it’s not shooting-fireworks-from-a-dry-hillside concerning, but still.
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