Children of the red, white and blue

Wewahitchka fifth grader Lawson Demunck shows off his diving skills at the July 4 festivities at Wewa’s Lake Alice Park. [ David Adlerstein | The Star ]

Wewahitchka sixth grader Raelee Morris prepares to do some magnet fishing at Lake Alice Park on July 4, together with her mom, Allison Morris, and her brother, first grader Elliott, and sister, fifth grader Millie, seated. [ David Adlerstein | The Star ]

Lillian Powell, 6 months, is all red, white and blue in the arms of her Mimi Nikki Bradley, of Hosford, at the July 3 celebration in Apalachicola’s Riverfront Park. [ David Adlerstein | The Times ]

Carman Burke, 5, is held up by her dad Jeremy Burke so she can see the fireworks at Apalachicola’s July 3 festivities. [ David Adlerstein | The Times ]

Tiny Miss Seahawk Eliza Creamer sports some cool shades in Apalachicola’s July 3 parade. [ David Adlerstein | The Times ]

Hadleigh, left, and Kate Marie Taylor, identical 5-year-old twins, stand with their mom Kelsee Taylor, of Crawfordville, at the July 3 celebration in Apalachicola’s Riverfront Park. [ David Adlerstein | The Times ]

At the July 1 Freedom Festival in Eastpoint, Caden Rester, 3, waves a flag while resting in the arms of his Papaw, Freddie Segree, of Eastpoint. [ David Adlerstein | The Times ]

Nola and Noah Allen, from Upper Marlboro, Maryland, ride in the Apalachicola July 3 parade with their grandparents Leon and Sherry O’Neal. [ David Adlerstein | The Times ]

Carol Hunnings, from Eastpoint, holds her granddaughter Skyler Gay, from Wewahitchka, at the Eastpoint Freedom Festival July 1. [ David Adlerstein | The Times ]

These bicyclists took part in Carrabelle’s July 5 golf cart parade. [ David Adlerstein | The Times ]

Throughout the Forgotten Coast, families gathered to celebrate the spirit of independence that is woven into the fabric of America.

They ate, they played, they listened to music and they enjoyed fireworks, all part of a celebration of the nation’s 248th birthday.

Essential to the holiday is the play of children, and in both Franklin and Gulf counties, children were everywhere you looked, delighting in the celebration of this nation’s precious freedoms.

“We find delight in the beauty and happiness of children that makes the heart too big for the body,” wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson , in “Illusions,” a November 1857 article in the Atlantic magazine. “I look upon the simple and childish virtues of veracity and honesty as the root of all that is sublime in character. Speak as you think, be what you are, pay your debts of all kinds.”