A little girl fidgets and sings songs while a couple of boys, eager for the action to start, tentatively creep out into the middle of the street to see if they can see anything coming.

A siren sounds and the girl yells, “It’s starting!”

The boys race back to the sidelines, candy bags in hand.

The Ames Fourth of July parade, the second in 30 years, has begun.

Although a rain shower in the morning had some wondering if the parade would be greeted by poor weather, Gordie Miller , 4033 Ross Rd., did not doubt the parade would have gone on.

“There might not be the crowd,” he says. “Even a mist would be alright.”

Virginia McKinney , 1441 Summit Ave., came out to see the parade with her husband, Dennis , and her two sons, Antonio, 21 months, and Steven, 10. She says the parade is a great family activity to start off a day full of festivities.

Although she enjoys everything about the atmosphere of the parade, she says without a doubt, her kids love the candy.

McKinney says the parade, which was absent from Ames for 30 years, should again become a tradition.

“I think they should continue it because it’s fun,” she says. “The kids have fun too.”

Meanwhile, Starzy the Clown, also known as Lynne Bishop , 2609 Eisenhower Ave., hands out a flower to an elderly woman and throws candy onto the street as the children race to pick it up.

“I actually started dressing up for the Veishea parade years ago as Blossom the Clown to give out flowers to the elderly and handicapped,” she says. “Of course, once you give out anything, the children want something too.”

This is the second year Bishop has dressed up as a clown for the Ames Fourth of July Parade.

“It’s just kind of like a hidden personality,” she says.

Bishop says the flowers she has handed out at past events were donated to her by several local area flowers shops.

“They just consider it part of their charity contributions,” she says.

Bishop sews all her costumes herself, and it takes about 45 minutes to get ready for each public appearance.

“The face paint should take longer because I don’t really know how to do it,” she says.

After so many years of walking the parades, Bishop has learned to make adjustments to her costumes to make them more suitable to the weather.

“I hate to admit it, but I have probably five or six different costumes from over the years that I have done,” she says.

Because walking the whole route of the parade can be very tiring, Bishop says she is not sure if she will continue with the Veishea parades.

“I don’t know,” Bishop says. “You know I’m getting up here in age. I think Veishea might be getting a little too long for me now.”

In addition to Starzy the Clown, several local celebrities made appearances at the parade.

Simon Estes , Iowa native and world-famous opera singer, acted as the Honorary Grand Marshal, and led the parade in a horse-drawn wagon.

ISU President Gregory Geoffroy and Cael Sanderson , Olympic gold medalist, followed close behind in cars.

A truck driven by Reiman Gardens representatives had a trailer of full of flowers, complete with a “10” made of daisies and marigolds in honor of their tenth anniversary.

The ISU/Ames Juggling Club, the Ames Historical Society , the Iowa Army Reserve, the Ames Soccer Club, and various local businesses also rounded out the parade.

“I think it’s good for the community,” Bishop says. “It brings all aspect of the community together, working together. It brings everybody out to see it — all the diversity of groups that participate increase the diversity of this community.”