Музей American Celebration on Parade at Shenandoah Caverns

American Celebration on Parade features 20 full size floats and over 100 props from Presidential Inaugural Parades, Rose Parades, Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day Parades and other national celebrations. See the floats up close, at your own pace. It's a once in a lifetime experience.

American Celebration on Parade is the brainchild of former caverns owner Earl Hargrove, Jr. His primary business, Hargrove Inc., was a decorating company. Mr. Hargrove and his father started this business by creating window front displays for department stores in the Washington, DC area such as Garfinkles, Kann's and Woodrow and Lothrop to name a few. Once Mr. Hargrove got out of the Marine Corp at the age of 19, he helped his father with the business. He and his father started doing parade floats for the Cherry Blossom parade in Washington DC and one day in 1948 they placed a bid to do the inauguration of Harry S. Truman in January of 1949, and won! The first inaugural float was "Missouri".

From there the company got started doing parades on a much greater scale and from that time on Hargrove, Inc. has participated in all the parades, galas and balls for the President and Vice President of the United States of America. They began decorating for the Inaugural Balls in 1961 for JFK. Hargrove Inc. is now one of the top three premier parade float builders in the United States. 

Mr. Hargrove purchased Shenandoah Caverns in 1966. It was important for Mr. Hargrove to share his love of floats and decorating with the public, so American Celebration on Parade was built in 2000.

Mr. Hargrove passed away in 2015, but his daughter, Kathy Hargrove Kelly, is now the owner of the Shenandoah Caverns Family of Attractions. Mrs. Kelly is dedicated to preserving her father's legacy and sharing these spectacular attractions with the world.