Aurora family hosts 4th of July parade, pancake breakfast 14 years in a row to "foster sense of community"

Every Independence Day for the last 14 years, at the end of a cul-de-sac in the Knolls neighborhood of Saddle Rock Ridge, near Smoky Hill and Riviera, in southeast Aurora, the Hommes family wakes up early to flip pancakes in their front driveway and serve them up to their entire neighborhood. 

"We've had people show up, and they've lived in the neighborhood for 16 years, and we had no idea they even lived here. We're meeting new people every single year," says Kendal Hommes, the family's patriarch. 

For over an hour, Hommes flips dozens of flapjacks while catching up with neighbors, family, and friends. He says there's no entrance fee or door charge, just bring yourself and your family, and have a good time. 

"It's just being kind, loving our neighbors," Hommes said. "That's what it's all about is trying to foster the sense of community here in our neighborhood."

But the pancake breakfast isn't even the main event, It's just the syrup on top of what comes next: a neighborhood parade for everyone to join, where Hommes quite literally goes the extra mile for his neighbors. 

"I remember growing up, being in parades, we say it's a lot more fun to be in a parade than to watch a parade, so we thought, what if we did something where we just paraded around the neighborhood?" Hommes said. 

Newcomers to the neighborhood like Chelsea Tetesi say it's a welcome surprise. 

"I love it! Especially when you have kids. I have two boys, and they absolutely loved it," Tetesi said. "All the other neighborhoods that we've moved to, everyone is so quiet, no one talks to each other, so this was huge."

As a military family, Tetesi says the parade means so much more than just a loop around the neighborhood. 

"My husband's gone right now, and so, it's nice to have this when he is gone, to have a community of people and get together with them," she said. "It's a big deal to us."

It's that sense of community that Hommes and his family plan to continue to foster for many more Fourth of Julys to come. 

"I think in today's world it seems like so many people are against everything, we are boycotting this, we are canceling that, and we just want to be for our neighborhood and for our community," Hommes said. "It's the idea that we can be so divided, as a country, as a community, as anything, but find the places where we can work together, where we can be kind to each other, and embrace all the differences that we have, and enjoy a day like this together."