From a symbol of hope and a better life for immigrants who came to start life in a new land, the Statue of Liberty has become a symbol of America itself.

Lewes native Kathy Hughes pays homage to Lady Liberty each Fourth of July in Lewes’ annual Doo Dah Parade.

It’s a role that means a little more each year. This year, on the heels of a European trip that took her to an American war cemetery in the Netherlands, it means quite a bit more.

Hughes met Dutch who have adopted the graves of American servicemen and continue to care for them. She said there are waiting lists of people who want to become caretakers of those graves.

“People said how thankful they are to our servicemen that they have liberty and freedom. I was bowled over by it.” A man in Wales noticed her American T-shirt and told her he holds a special place in his heart for Americans.

They aren’t sentiments heard very often here, she said, and hearing people express their gratitude was moving.

The cheerful Hughes took a serious tone, saying freedom is important to people everywhere, but that’s not often the story that’s heard. “You don’t hear about how intensely the Europeans are thankful. Servicemen who come home from Iraq say the Iraqis are, too, but you just hear the other side,” she said.

“It’s very nice to be part of something special and positive,” she said.

For the past 27 Independence Days, Hughes has donned a green robe and seven-pointed crown and ridden in a pickup truck through the streets of Lewes, torch held aloft. Crowds along the parade route grow each year, and people look forward to the event all through the year, stopping Hughes here and there, asking if she’s ready to don the robes of the Mother of Exiles in the coming summer.

“People have gotten more used to me, so it’s very cool,” she said. Raising her eyebrows, she said that the year there were two Statues of Liberty in the Doo Dah Parade, “People made mention of it.” Since then, it’s just been Hughes.

She grew up on Second Street and describes her childhood self as “a mess.” When she and a friend wanted to re-create Huckleberry Finn’s Mississippi River journey, they used the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal for the river and made their own raft. “It floated … for a bit,” she says, laughing that they had to be rescued.

When she turned 12, she went off to boarding school, later studying physical education, then behavioral science, which led her to reconnect with Lewes friends who also worked at the Stockley Center in Georgetown.

That reconnection led her to join her first Doo Dah Parade. She said she’s seen costumes and floats come and go. “I’ve always been the statue,” she said.

She said she likes to see the old Lewes people along the route and looks for certain ones, like the elderly gentleman by the Lewes Fire Hall who takes his hat off as she passes.

Hughes remembers the ones she doesn’t see any more, such as the late Mary Vessels, and puts her hand over her heart to remember her when she passes what was Vessels’ Kings Highway home.

The people in it make it special, she said.

“These are all people who I think truly respect the liberty of this country. There is camaraderie here and I like the looseness of it. Everyone just gets together and it works,” she said.

As some parade founders and participants pass away, Hughes says she feels more responsibility to be there each year, to keep it going.

“It’s gotten so meaningful. You make sure you’re here,” she said.