Yesterday the Prairie Greens marched in the Urbana-Champaign annual Fourth of July Parade along with the Illinois Fair Trade Campaign (or is it Commission? Correct and URL me in the comments) and the 85% Coalition marched in the Champaign-Urbana Fourth of July Parade.

Democracy permeated the theme of the group. With everyone wearing their own shade of green, the entire march was a tribute to individuality. It was not until about 300 meters into the parade route that the group decided on their cheers, which got started simply by someone shouting off a key value or idea for reform, and the rest of the marchers responding with "Vote Green!"

Crowd response was also quite inspiring. Several spectators joined in to the chants of Vote Green, and several shouts of values and democratic ideals came from the crowd to which the marchers of course responded to with "Vote Green". The embrace of individual voice made this reporter's heart swell.

This is not to say that the Greens were without critics. One clever heckler offered "Shut up," to which of course the marchers did not answer back with a "Vote Green." Instead, they simply shouted "Free Speech, Vote Green!" and "End Censorship, Vote Green!" Another witty spectator shouted "Get a life", to which the group echoed "Get a life! Vote Green!"

Cheers from the Illinois Fair Trade Campaign were also chanted, along with shouts of "Vote your conscience, not your fears" and "Start a third party? Start a second party! Vote Green."

Marching about 5 groups behind the Champaign-Urbana Democrats, this reporter hopes that people were able to see the alternative exists and is quite a bit more vocal and vibrant.

There were also reports of the adbusters corporate flag on light posts along the parade route, though perhaps it could be argued that Old Navy (Careful, this website hurts my brain) ran a more successful campaign.