As police lights flashed and sirens wailed through the heavy fog that settled in over Moshup Trail, 100 children, clad head to toe in their red-white-and-blue finery, paraded down Old South Road in Aquinnah.

What started nine years ago as a group of eight children strolling on Philbin Beach has transformed into a neighborhood event every year on the Fourth of July.

“When we were little, it was just eight kids banging pots and pans, but now it’s everyone,” said Emma Goldfield, one of the founding members of the parade. Now 11 years old, she toddled through the parade as a two-year old with her mother, Kristin Mannion, who organizes the event every year.

The parade had its fair share of kids, ranging from infants to preteens, bolstered in numbers by their adult neighbors looking to have a little festive fun on this most American of holidays.

Sandra Melkonian, her head wrapped in an electric blue feather boa, said: “This is a chance for hometown fun with our friends and neighbors. We know everyone, and it’s a little secret for all of us up here.”

A little secret it might be for the rest of the Island, but in Aquinnah it is a townwide effort. Lining the street where the children paraded in their most patriotic attire were fire trucks and police cars, whose lights raced through the mist, providing appropriate red, white and blue delight to the children. Sue Jensen, an Aquinnah summer resident who served as this year’s parade marshal for the first time, said with excitement, “We had an ATV! We’ve never had one of those before.”

After crossing Moshup Trail to get to the beach, the parade continued in authentic Island fashion up over the dunes. The kids, tugging their parents along with them, followed the paths through the fluttering beach grass to the promise of buried treasure (candy) and to the sea.

Ms. Mannion, said “Everyone who lives here, and all the people who make the town run — the policemen and the firemen — really get involved, and it’s a great community event.”

She continued: “We started out because we couldn’t bear going all the way to Edgartown . . . and it’s fun to do a homemade thing. Every year it’s just grown — there’s a sense that it’s homegrown, and that’s a great memory for the kids. They all remember it and they all feel really proud and really connected to this place.”