In Photos: 2019 Racine Fourth of July Parade

RACINE, WI — Under sunny skies and 80-degree temperatures, one of the Midwest's largest Fourth of July parades took place in Downtown Racine on Thursday, July 4, 2019.

The theme of Racine's 2019 parade was “America-50 Years To The Moon And Back," and featured a number of space-themed floats including large-scale balloons of the earth, moon and a street-sized astronaut.

Among the tributes that made this year's parade unique were multiple honors of Officer John Hetland, the Racine policeman who lost his life while confronting an armed robber on June 17.

The parade kicked off with a flyover of a U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor fighter jet - the first such flyover of its kind for Racine, which had over the years been graced with the C-130 Hercules propeller-driven transport planes.