CHICAGO — Highland Park residents on Thursday took a major step in the town’s collective grief: They gathered wagons, ribbons and flags for a July Fourth parade.

Two years after a gunman killed seven people and injured dozens more at Highland Park’s Independence Day parade, the North Shore suburb is continuing to reckon with how to both honor the victims and celebrate the holiday.

“July Fourth is always going to be a day of mixed emotion,” Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering told reporters early Thursday. “Having that opportunity to come together as a community to celebrate this great nation, we’re looking forward to that. But first, we need to remember what this community has been through and remember those lives that we lost.”

Highland Park planned a series of events Thursday that encompassed both memorial and celebration, including a parade along a new route and a festival in a local park.

At the morning remembrance ceremony, attendees wore mostly casual, red, white and blue wear in step with a traditional holiday celebration, as law enforcement, police dogs and therapy dogs roamed the campus alongside them.

Family of victims, survivors and other community members gathered for words from Rabbi Michael Schwab of North Suburban Synagogue Beth El and Deacon Louie Vignocchi of Christ Our Hope Parish, along with string music, poetry and other presenters.

“If we allow it, this one evil act can change how we live,” Vignocchi said. “We can’t allow that to happen. No one person or event should dictate how we live our lives, who we trust, who we respect, who we love and honor.”

The 45-minute ceremony had Spanish translations and was not live-streamed for security and privacy reasons, according to the city. Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot was among the several hundred people in attendance.

Linda Straus, widow of Stephen Straus, who at 88 was the oldest victim in the massacre, said she felt after the ceremony Thursday morning that it was “a lovely remembrance.”

“It was beautiful … that everybody was together,” she said.

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