A Patriotic Fourth in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

My Husband and I spent five days in Coeur d’Alene Idaho. This is the first of several blogs about this wonderful north-Idaho town.

My eyes welled up with tears witnessing all the people unapologetically cheering on our country, armed-service members, and veterans as they paraded by in Coeur d’Alene’s Fourth of July parade. It was such a welcome contrast to my sad blue state of California.

The theme of the 2025 July 4th parade in Coeur d’Alene was American Heroes. It began solemnly, with two riderless horses representing the two firemen who had been ambushed and murdered by a young transient. Firemen, police, and family members walked or drove by, while we spectators stood in respect and clapped.

After that moving scene, the parade continued with the usual small-town elements: an army band, high-school football players, cheerleaders, even a heavy-metal band – LOL. The Coeur d’Alene parade had lots of car and truck floats advertising local businesses, and even a dog-training group called Sit Means Sit.

Yes, It’s A Red State

One of the best floats was from the local Republican Party; it included a huge balloon of President Trump. Everyone cheered and clapped as they went by. Later there was a small Democratic group that walked past; they only received a bit of polite clapping. Which brings me to my next point: yes, Idaho is a red state and Coeur d’Alene is 75% Republican, and I loved it!

In Coeur d’Alene, my husband and I didn’t see any druggies on the street, trash, graffiti, homeless encampments, or boarded-up shops. And to those who think that Idaho or Coeur d’Alene is racist – just because the majority of the population is white – I asked three different women of varying ethnicity what they thought about living there. One was Hispanic, one was Hawaiian, and one was Asian, and all three loved living in Coeur d’Alene. One lady, who came from the state of Washington, said she’d been living in Coeur d’Alene for several years and never experienced any problems. She added, “People are nicer here than in Washington!”

Patriotic Residents

People in Coeur d’Alene are really patriotic. We went down to the lake that night to view the fantastic fireworks show (sorry I didn’t take pictures). A family of five sat on the grass next to us. They had two adorable little boys and a baby girl. The boys were doing sparkler fireworks before the show started. Here’s the amazing part: every time one of the boys asked their mom for another sparkler, she first made them say, “God Bless America.” Wow!

“Sparkler please!”
“Say, God Bless America!”
“Captain America!”
“No, it begins with God . . ”
“God.”
” – Bless America!”
“God Bless America!”

I’ll leave you with a short film montage of the July 4th Coeur d’Alene parade. Enjoy!