ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — Rockford’s Fourth of July celebration has been going strong since 1963. That’s when Joe Marino and a team of volunteers first turned the city’s downtown into a daylong event, ending with one of the biggest fireworks displays in the state of Illinois.
Marino founded the Rockford 4th of July Civic Committee and became affectionately known as “Mr. Fourth of July.”
He ran the show until his passing in 2018, at the age of 92…