Rockford’s Fourth of July event is a tribute to Joe Marino, ‘Mr. 4th of July’

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — Rockford’s Fourth of July celebration has been going strong since 1963. That’s when Joe Marino and a team of volunteers first turned the city’s downtown into a daylong event, ending with one of the biggest fireworks displays in the state of Illinois.

Marino founded the Rockford 4th of July Civic Committee and became affectionately known as “Mr. Fourth of July.”

He ran the show until his passing in 2018, at the age of 92.

Marino relied on his family, specifically his grandson and nephew, to take over the reins and continue the community celebration.

“When grandpa decided to pass it on, he sat us down at breakfast, me and my cousin Ted, and said the only way that this is going to keep going is if you two officially take over,” recalled Tom Luepkes, Co-Chair Rockford 4th of July Civic Committee.

And that’s exactly what they’ve done.

Now in its 61st year, the 4th of July Civic Committee faced some challenges this year.

Ongoing development at Davis Park meant venue changes, and the fireworks now launched from the Jefferson Street bridge.

Co-chair Ted O’Donnell said, “We shot off that bridge for so many years and we haven’t been able to do it for 25 years and It just felt right this year to bring it back.”

The committee co-chairs are hopeful the community accepts the changes.

Keeping the event going year after year is something Mr. 4th of July would be proud of.

“To see us be able to carry that on, knowing that we cannot do it without community support, I think he’d be very proud of us and the community both,” said Luepkes.

“I would hope he’d be proud. And he would be excited that we didn’t give up,” O’Donnell added.