In the Pipeline: Parade watchers, did you feel it?

I recently pored over some just-unearthed photos from Huntington Beach Fourth of July parades past, images that date from about the 1970s to the early 1990s.

It struck me just how much the parade means to this city, how it helps define Huntington Beach and how it brings home the fact that ours was never really a sleepy little beach town.

The revelry, the big and bold embracing of patriotism, and the wildly enthusiastic public celebrations perfectly represent this tumultuous community.

Sure there will be dustups, altercations and other unpleasantness on the Fourth. It comes with the territory. We are a big, loud, attractive city with 10 miles of open beach.

But something special struck me about the parade this year. Sure, it takes place shortly after the mid-point in the year, and it gives everyone a chance to get off their soap boxes and set aside whatever local issues are brewing — everything from plastic bags to high-density development. It’s also a chance for people to come together. That’s a given.

But what got me this year, as I sat with my family at Pacific Coast Highway and Main Street, was just what a nice reminder the parade is of the deeply important local connections and the appreciation of those from outside Huntington Beach who wind up here.

I say this first as a father, brimming with pride as our daughter Claire, Miss Huntington Beach, rode past on one of the first floats. That certainly was a lot to take in.

Then there was Jay Duval, a man with whom I had the honor of traveling to Yosemite as a chaperon on one of the many trips that affected young lives. He was riding in the parade as teacher of the year, which he certainly deserved.

Seeing Harold Tur, the military grand marshal, who lost an arm in World War II, reminded me of the day I sat in his home interviewing him for a piece I would write about Veterans Day, his replies coated in a thick New York accent.

Many past city officials were able to enjoy their moment in the sun without without any debate or tension.

I also enjoyed seeing citizen of the year Bill Kettler, who can tell you firsthand what it was like here in the 1930s.

I chatted with my friend Pat Stier, director of the parade board. Typically calm and composed at times that might drive many others crazy, Stier offered asides as the parade passed that gave me insight into all that she goes through each year.

The Special Olympics float caught me most off guard. Broadcaster Ed Arnold, an old friend, was aboard as a founding member of the Games on the West Coast. He got involved in 1968.

Jeff Snow from Rainbow Environmental Services, a Games’ co-chair, attended with several Special Olympians. They were joined by Misty May-Treanor, a three-time Olympic gold medalist in beach volleyball who went to Newport Harbor High School, and Garden Grove’s Amanda Freed, who played on the U.S.’s gold medal softball team in 2004.

Also on the float was the elegant Rafer Johnson, a Special Olympics founder and gold medal-winning decathlete in the 1960 Rome Olympics and a 1956 silver medalist in Melbourne.

Speaking with him before the parade, he shared how much he enjoys visiting Huntington Beach when his family vacations a few miles down the coast. And then you remember that he was at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles that summer night in 1968, when Bobby Kennedy was shot by Sirhan Sirhan. It was Johnson and football player Rosie Grier who tackled Sirhan after the shooting.

Nearly 80, the still-youthful and graceful Johnson provided a thrill for many spectators.

Parades, by their nature, are festive, celebratory and deeply woven into the fabric of our country. But given the fact that our parade goes back to the city’s official christening, it is more than an annual event. It is a touchstone, and it is a marker for us to measure what we represent as a city and how we’d like the world think of us.

And once more, organizers and city officials delivered something truly special, even beyond big names and fanfare — a chance to make meaningful personal connections, which I’m sure many of you felt as well.

CHRIS EPTING is the author of 25 books, including “Legendary Locals of Huntington Beach.” You can follow him on Twitter @chrisepting or at facebook.com/hbindependent.