Take a picturesque New England town, add the celebration of a quintessential American holiday, and you’ll have Harvard on the Fourth of July. A hard-working committee, a large number of extra volunteers for the day, a grant from the Harvard Cultural Council, and support of local businesses have always been essential ingredients of the event. In recent years a decline in both volunteers and funding has threatened to cancel the events, but somehow things work out and the day comes off as a success.
For the past 10 years Anne Hentz has been the driving force behind the committee, and she said in a recent conversation: “It’s a lot. There’s a little bit to do here and there throughout the year. Something new is added every year—while keeping all of the existing elements—and there just aren’t enough volunteers to cover everything that needs to be done.” Hentz named a few of the longstanding committee members—Connie Barton, Christopher Chalifoux, the Iverson family—and there are others found on the website. Hentz was heartened to have three young couples, one of whom is new to town, volunteering for different activities on the Fourth itself. “We need the new blood,” she said.
In some ways the success of the celebration—touted in Boston Central and other media—has backfired. The number of attendees at the Fruitlands fireworks became so great (more than 8,000) that both management and funding became difficult. And this year, said Hentz, the financial and planning arrangement required by Fruitlands had made the event impossible.
Jane Besse raises her hand and covers her mouth in a pie-eating contest in 2018. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
The pie-eating contest is in jeopardy this year because, as of yet, no volunteers to oversee and judge the event have come forward. But the bike decorating, parade, flag ceremony, and field events will go on as usual. The Rafters, a Harvard husband and wife duo, Miki and Dave Fitzgibbons, will perform; their music is a blend of pop and folk influences. The Lions Club will again be cooking hamburgers, veggie burgers, chicken strips, funnel cakes, french fries, and hot dogs.
The sale of T-shirts, for which there is a new design contest every year, is a major source of revenue for the committee. This year the stars and poppies on the back of the shirt are the design of ninth-grader Caroline Charland, who added a new twist to a well-known phrase: “The home of the free because of the brave.” On the front are fireworks by Kyran O’Leary, grade 5.
In the parade, this year’s Citizens of Note, Paul and Marty Green, will ride in an electric truck.The truck is not theirs, but the idea was Paul’s. Grand Marshal Lucy Wallace will wave from an antique convertible.
History of Harvard’s Fourth
The earliest documentation of the Fourth of July celebration that is archived at the Historical Society is a printed program from 1906. It shows that the day began with sports on the Bromfield grounds at 9:30. For boys under 14 years of age there was an egg race, a 100-yard dash, and a potato race. Men engaged in a running broad jump, a rope-climbing contest, and the 440-yard dash. And for girls? A peanut race.
By 1921 the sports for girls had expanded, though one can still detect the gender bias of the time. While the boys ran a 100-yard dash, the girls ran 50 yards. Boys were deemed capable of managing to run in sacks, girls to race blindfolded. In races carrying an object, presumably on a spoon, boys got an orange while girls balanced a potato. By 1924 the 50 yards still separated the boys and girls running challenge, but now at least boys as well as girls were racing with potatoes.
An exhibition by the Fire Department at the pond and a baseball game with the Harvard Baseball Association pitted against a nearby town were important parts of the Fourth festivities, as was a concert on the Common featuring a band from Shirley, Lunenburg, or Townsend. Town Hall offered entertainment in the afternoon: In 1921 the movie “Seven Swans” starring Mary Pickford was on the program.
Across the country in the 1920s, boxing was a popular sport at Fourth of July celebrations. A photo at the society, undated but most likely from the early 1920s, shows a Harvard celebration featuring a variation: barrel boxing. A 1922 book, “Games for Boys,” describes the sport: The two pugilists are put inside bottomless barrels. At the signal “Go to it” each boxer tries to knock over his opponent—and his barrel. A man moved his barrel by holding it with his hands, thus leaving him without his guard up. The event appears to have drawn a crowd, but there is no record of how long it continued to be part of the festivities.
The town report of 1935 documents that Warren K. Harrod gifted $1,550 to the town “for entertainment for children on July 4th” that year and that “the income from the remaining $1,500 be spent yearly for the same purpose.” A clown show at Town Hall and free ice cream were some of the events for children provided by the Harrod fund. There is no mention of events for women until 1975 when a “ladies” category was part of the pie-eating contest.
In the mid-century decades, there seem to have been few events, and attendance declined. People traveled on the Fourth, perhaps in part because there was nothing much happening in town.
New life for the holiday
The dramatic change in the way Harvard celebrated the Fourth occurred largely through the vision of the late Gene Marteney. In 1967 he was talking to a selectman about how his hometown in Pennsylvania celebrated the holiday with a parade and bike decorating. The next thing Gene knew, he and his wife Arline were asked to start a Fourth of July committee to plan the celebration for the next year. Two other women joined the Marteneys, and the group set about planning a celebration that would change the way Harvard celebrates the Fourth.
All of the events took place on the Common. According to the 1968 Town Report a 10 a.m. blast from the fire whistle started the day, followed by a line of fire engines, including antique Engine #1. A color guard and marching band led a long procession around the Common—decorated tricycles, bicycles, and doll carriages, followed by the Girl Scouts from Camp Green Eyrie. Also in the parade were some “horribles” dressed in weird costumes. Dating back to the 1870s or earlier in various New England towns, the horribles in grotesque outfits were meant to satirize politicians and other public figures. Some towns continue to have horribles in their parades, but without the satirical meaning. The horribles’ appearance in Harvard, like barrel boxing, seems to have been short-lived. The band was the Yankee Doodle Band, composed of students from Bromfield, which became a regular feature of the Fourth celebrations for many years.
The report goes on to say that the Girl Scouts conducted a flag ceremony; judges awarded prizes in several categories of decorated vehicles; games and races were held for different age groups; and a band from St. Benedict’s gave a concert. There was a firemen’s mini-muster on the corner of the Common across from the Congregational Church. Every child had free ice cream from Stone’s on Ayer Road and went home with an American flag.
The next year the celebration moved to the grounds of the elementary school because the Common had been crowded. A chicken barbecue and a square dance in the parking lot of Town Hall soon became regular institutions of the Fourth.
In 1971 decorated floats seem to have been introduced into the parade that started at Town Hall, along with horses and antique cars. A local paper reported that “bikes joined the parade in front of the library [now Fivesparks], avoiding the downhill grade which caused concern to parents and onlookers.” That year 500 free ice cream cones were given to children under 16. For a few years, Fun Services set up a Moon-Walk and games of chance. The Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, and American Field Service ran the games and profited from the proceeds. The still popular greased pole made an appearance in 1973, with a $5 bill stuck on the top as incentive. By 1975 games and races were held on Bromfield School grounds, and some activities took place at the town beach. By 1978 girls were enjoying the same races as boys: running, sack, and wheelbarrow.
The town is lucky to have had the vision of Gene Marteney, selectmen who were willing to take a chance, and Fourth of July committees that over the years have continued to work endless hours to give Harvard residents a variety of events to celebrate the Fourth.
Hentz said this will be her last year on the committee, though she will be around to help in the future. “It was so much fun,” Hentz said, “I wouldn’t have done it if it weren’t. We have good people—but we need more.” She said she hopes the celebration keeps going, for the sake of the kids.
