Thousands line streets of Idaho Falls for 4th of July parade

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) - Thousands of people lined the route of the Idaho Falls Independence Day parade this morning to celebrate the holiday.

This year's theme for the "2022 Liberty on Parade" event was "Let Freedom Ring!" — and it clearly did.

Instead of taking cans of food, this year the Idaho Falls City Council collected money for the Community Food Basket.

The drive helps keep the donations here in East Idaho.

"Community Food Basket is fantastic because it is a centralized location right here in Eastern Idaho," said Idaho Falls Mayor Rebecca Casper. "When you give donations to the Idaho Food Bank, all of that donations and cash, all of that goes to Boise, and then it is redistributed from there. So sometimes people are giving stuff that goes all the way across the state and back, but when you give to the Community Food Basket, it stays right here. It can be deployed very quickly and at very little cost."