An annual parade in St. Louis that was born in 1878 with the creation of the Veiled Prophet Society will return to the city’s downtown on Saturday for a July Fourth celebration.
The parade has undergone several name and schedule changes over the past century. Now known as America’s Birthday Parade, the parade and its renamed sponsor organizations, VP St. Louis and Celebrate St. Louis, continue to exist in an uneasy balance with their former identities. After the Veiled Prophet was removed from the parade in 2019, the parade pivoted to highlighting patriotism and pageantry.
St. Louis author Devin O’Shea sees those changes as an attempt to erase what he describes as “rancid and unnerving” parts of the city’s past…