A crowd of around 100 people gathered in front of the Hinsdale County Museum in Lake City on July 4, 2026. That's a sizable number for this community of about 400 year-round residents.
On this day, the town is packed with locals and visitors celebrating the holiday.
Schulyler Denham was dressed in a colonial costume complete with a tricorn hat, knickers, and buckle shoes as he rang a bell to get the crowd's attention.
He told the onlookers that he was there to read a document sent to him by the Continental Congress in Philadelphia.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," proclaimed Denham. "That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men."
This is the seventeenth year Denham has read aloud this founding document.
In his first year, he stood on a street corner down by the school, mostly being ignored. However, that didn't deter him.
"I got together with the town and museum and decided to do it in front of the museum. Got a costume. Got some press ahead of time", Denham explained. "It was in the local newspaper."
Now, the reading is an annual event.
"It's done in a lot of towns. And traditionally, it had been done in Lake City. I read about readings going back to the 1870s," he said. "It was something I thought should be done, and I had no problem deciding to do it myself."
Denham is pleased that the tradition was revived. He said it helps educate people and allows him to connect people with the past and with the history of the Declaration of Independence.
"I get a lot of citizens that come up to me and say 'I've never actually heard it' or 'I appreciate you doing this'," he said.
Henry Woods, a Lake City resident and member of the town board of trustees, tries to attend the reading every year and didn't miss this year's one.
"I took my 'No Kings' sign, and I had a 13-star United States flag. I felt compelled to do that because I think that is what it is kind of all about: the Declaration of Independence is about having no kings," Woods said.
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In addition to being a colonial history buff, Denham is a retired police officer who rarely had an opportunity to take the day off on Independence Day while working for the Baltimore Police Department.
"There was always a traditional, historic, colonial slant to the celebrations that were going on [in Baltimore]. I was brought up thinking that is the way the Fourth [of July] should be," he said.
Denham said he looks forward to donning his period attire next year to once again read aloud the Declaration of Independence.
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