12 years ago, my husband and I moved to Sonoma not knowing a single soul. The moving van arrived in June and we left a week later for a trip to Italy that had been planned well before. We returned to Sonoma on July 2nd, jet-lagged and wondering what to do for our nation’s birthday.

I don’t even recall where I heard about the Sonoma 4th of July parade, but with no other plans we drove down the hill to Sonoma’s square to check it out. Thinking we’d take in a bit of Americana and head back home to nap off the jetlag, we had no idea how much more in love we were about to fall with our new town. No wonder Travel & Leisure Magazine just named Sonoma, CA the eighth best town in which to spend the 4th of July.

This was the 51st year for the Sonoma parade, now put on by the Sonoma Community Center. Over the past 12 years some things have changed. Gone are the days when our friends would park their pick-ups along the parade route around the Historic Sonoma Plaza and we’d tailgate out of them. Also gone are the legendary water-balloon fights between the town’s firemen and its residents.

A new-ish feature of the parade is a free bike valet at Depot Park. For the last two years we’ve peddled down the bike path right into the thick of things without having to worry about parking. The truth is, there is no parking, not within eight blocks of the plaza. So unless you get there at the crack of dawn, you better have on good walking shoes.

We made a beeline to our friend’s house. AJ lives just off the plaza on the street where the parade floats assemble. He’s been hosting this party for 17 years so everybody who’s anybody stops by for a Gin Fizz, a Bloody Mary, or Coors Light — all good choices for 10 in the morning. Each year, as the parade wraps up, he leads the crowd in a rendition of “God Bless America.” It sounds corny but when you’re there it feels right . . . beyond patriotic.

This year’s crowd at the Sonoma Parade topped 10,000 to watch to the various floats consisting of karate kids, rock-n-roll bands, caballeros on horseback, and all shapes and sizes of people dressed in red, white and blue costumes and face-paint. Even the Clydesdales have patriotic painted tails for the day.

By noon the crowd starts to thin as people head off to pool parties and picnics around the valley. As dusk approaches, the crowds return to watch the fireworks. Everyone spreads their blankets at the “Field of Dreams” and stares up into the night sky. There are many places to be over the Fourth of July but, as Dorothy once said, there’s no place like home.