Bristol Fourth of July Parade
Encyclopedia
Parade
A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of some kind...
in Bristol, Rhode Island
Bristol, Rhode Island
Bristol is a town in and the historic county seat of Bristol County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 22,954 at the 2010 census. Bristol, a deepwater seaport, is named after Bristol, England....
. The parade is part of the oldest continuous Fourth of July celebration in the United States of America.
History
The annual official and historic celebrations (Patriotic Exercises) were established in 1785 by Rev. Henry Wight of the First Congregational Church and Veteran of the Revolutionary War, and later by Rev. Wight as the Parade, and continue today, organized by the Bristol Fourth of July Committee [1]. The festivities officially start on June 14, Flag Day, beginning a period of outdoor concerts, soap-box races and a Firefighters muster at Independence Park. The celebration climaxes on July 4 with the oldest annual parade in the United States, "The Military, Civic and Firemen's Parade", an event that draws over 200,000 people from Rhode Island and around the world. These elaborate celebrations give Bristol its nickname, "America's most patriotic town" In 1785 Bristol Fourth of July Parade was founded and the Fourth of July has been celebrated every year in Bristol since that date, although the parade itself was cancelled several times.Celebration Traditions
- Patriotic Exercises Speaker, notable person chosen to speak (starting in 1785)
- Chief Marshall, a high honor given to a Bristol resident (starting in 1826)
- Visiting ship, a U.S. Navy ship is present at the celebration (starting in 1876)
- Carolina Crown, Drum and Bugle Corps from Ft. Mill, SC (starting in 1990)
2009 Rhode Island Tea Party Incident
The Rhode Island Tea-Party Association applied to enter the parade with a float featuring a representation of the British ship Beaver, which was ransacked by colonists dressed as native americans in 1773 at the Boston Tea PartyBoston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a direct action by colonists in Boston, a town in the British colony of Massachusetts, against the British government and the monopolistic East India Company that controlled all the tea imported into the colonies...
. Staffing the float was Helen Grover, radio personality from Providence, RI based WHJJ 920 am.
The Bristol Fourth of July Committee ejected the Rhode Island Tea-Party Association float from the 2009 parade and permanently banned them from all future parades for distributing pocket copies of the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights along the parade route. Such handouts are prohibited at the Parade on the grounds that people (especially children) running up to floats to get them pose a danger.