The North Lake Improvement Club has held a Fourth of July parade for the neighborhood every year since 1952.

Next week, Lynn Naumann will join a handful of residents who attended the community’s inaugural parade 60 years ago.

As an 8-year-old girl, Naumann decorated her bike and rode down the street with other children. All the neighbors came out to watch them go by.

“It’s pretty neat that it has continued through the years,” said Naumann (maiden name Kriegel), who grew up on North Lake with her family. After living all over the world, she and her husband moved back in 1984, next door to her childhood home.

“A lot of us know most everybody around the lake these days,” she said.

The community is located east of I-5 near the Weyerhaeuser campus. Participants will begin lining up for the parade at 10:30 a.m. July 4 at Slavic Gospel Church, 3405 S. 336th St. The road will close from 11 a.m. to noon as the parade travels toward the North Lake community clubhouse for prizes, hot dogs and ice cream. Federal Way Mayor Skip Priest and his wife, Trisha, will be the parade’s grand marshals.

Photos from 1952 will be on display at the festivities in the clubhouse. There will also be a 50-50 raffle with tickets for $1.

Several neighbors build floats for the parade. Longtime resident Debra Hansen’s granddaughters and nieces will ride a float called the North Lake Victory Garden.

The eight little girls will dress as flowers and vegetables. Last year, Hansen’s girls created the North Lake Mermaids float, and before that, they were the North Lake Cowgirls.

“It’s a tradition,” Hansen said. “Even though Federal Way is a relatively new city, I think it is important to share that our roots go a lot deeper than when we became incorporated.”