Oxford celebrates Fourth of July early with car show and parade

Stephan Locker's 1969 Jaguar XKE has won more than 100 awards across America and was showcased in the Cincinnati Art Museum for a year. On Sunday, he parked a few spots away from Oxford Memorial Park as one of more than 220 cars. Locker said he can't resist coming back to Oxford for the show.

Locker's 1969 E-type Jaguar was in the 2024 Masonic Lodge charity car and bike show, which this year led into the Oxford Freedom Festival parade.

The second annual car and bike show held more than the esteemed Jaguar. Corvettes, Mustangs, Harleys, Thunderbirds and more made up the 221 rare vehicles in attendance.

From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., the festival provided live music from the Caitlin Davis Band and Wayne Davis Band while attendees chose from four different food vendors ranging from funnel cakes and lemonade to LaRosa's.

Caitlin Davis, the lead singer for the band, said her guitarist, Rick House, is part of the Masonic Lodge and got them into the show.

"It was fun. The sound was great. The crowd was great [and] they had a good response," Davis said. "I hope to be back maybe next year."

The Masonic Lodge organized the event. Mike Hodge, the Chaplain for the lodge, said the national organization supports charity events and raises money for different organizations in and around the community.

"We're always working for somebody, trying to help make something better, fix something, raise money," Hodge said. "That's why we wanted to do the car show because a lot of guys have their own cars in the show. They're working it [so] we're kind of having fun doing both sides of the fence."

Hodge said the show raised $2,000 for the Syrian Hospital, $2,000 to the Antioch Shrine Hospital which is the Shriners Hospital for children in Dayton, $10,000 to TOPSS food pantry and $5,000 toward the Oxford Community Foundation. An unknown amount will also go to Marshall Elementary.

Before a member can go into one of the different branches like Shriner or Widows Son, they have to first become a mason.

During the event, the lodge members wore fezzes to show their support for the Shriners Hospital.

The Widows Sons were also at the festival. The group was one of the many organizations manning a booth. Their motto is "promoting motorcycling to masonry and masonic values to motorcyclists" according to their pamphlet.

Michael Rapp, who also goes by Diesel, said his fellow masonry member Chris Gibbs received his road name "Blinker" after he rode 640 miles with his blinker on. He even stopped for gas three times.

Gibbs said they represent the masons that want to ride motorcycles.

"We do a lot of charity work as well," Rapp added. "We do rides to benefit good causes. We do rides to help out the Shriners. A lot of us are Shrine [members] as well as masons."

In Ohio, there are 960 members in 26 chapters and Gibbs said the goal of these chapters is to do good in the community from one end of the spectrum to the other.

Before the Oxford Freedom Festival Parade started at 5 p.m., the booth Age-Friendly Oxford had an activity where people put their first name and age and what freedom means to them. Five answers were later read to the crowd.

The parade began its route at Kramer Elementary, headed toward High Street and ended on Poplar Street. The parade included cars from the show, firetrucks, Masonic Club members on motorized tricycles and local organizations throwing candy.

Kids were encouraged to decorate their bikes red, white and blue, while pet owners dressed up their dogs and cats in patriotic gear.

The evening ended with High Street emptying of families and the band playing until 8 p.m.

Oxford's celebration of Independence Day will continue with the Freedom Festival on Wednesday, July 3. The event, held in Oxford Community Park, will run from 5-10:30 p.m. and costs $5 per car. The festival includes axe throwing, inflatables, a live band, food and a fireworks show at 10 p.m.