Another July Fourth celebration is in the books for the Cape Region.

During the hustle and bustle of the holiday, we sometimes fail to reflect on its significance. It was 246 years ago, July 4, 1776, that the Second Continental Congress ratified the Declaration of Independence establishing the United States of America in a break from British rule. On that day, 56 of our forefathers, including Delaware's Caesar Rodney, George Read and Thomas McKean, took the bold step to sign the document, which helped frame the country we know today.

It's fitting that the largest celebrations of the year occur on this historic date.

In the Cape Region, tourists and locals look forward to time-honored traditions including fireworks and a Bandstand concert in Rehoboth Beach sponsored by the city, fireworks in Dewey Beach sponsored by Highway One, and Lewes fireworks sponsored by Go Fourth Lewes.

Those sponsors spend upwards of $200,000 combined to light up the sky for tens of thousands of people who, in turn, support local businesses over the busy holiday weekend.

Dedicated volunteers, local officials and sponsors in Lewes have raised the bar higher in the celebration of July Fourth with children's games, a boat parade and the most quintessential event, the Doo-Dah Parade.

The parade, started by neighborhood friends in the 1960s, is now one of the highlights of the day as family and friends of those founders keep the tradition alive with a red, white and blue tribute to the country. The parade reminds us of simpler times when celebrations were more spontaneous.

The same can be said of the children's games held on Second Street in Lewes for decades. This year, volunteer Ron Krajewski of Lewes stepped in to chair the event, which was almost canceled.

The July 4 Bring Mayberry Back to Milton is another example of people joining together to have fun and celebrate. Many other communities, large and small, also have July 4 parades, including Henlopen Acres and Millsboro.

It takes a small army of volunteers working with city and state officials, and police and other first responders to successfully stage Cape Region July 4 events. We owe them all a collective thank you for their tireless efforts to help celebrate our nation's independence.