by John Osborn ·
Friday, July 12, 2024
Rachel Molnar sings the national anthem. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
Arguably, no day is more political in its origins than the Fourth of July, the day our country’s founders declared independence from Great Britain. Yet in this most political of years, there was little sign in Harvard’s annual parade and festivities of the national controversies that divide Americans in 2024.
The Democratic and Republican town committees both marched in the town’s annual parade, but so did Havard’s lifeguards, dressed in the pink colors of the movie “Barbie,” proclaiming “Let’s go party,” and spritzing bystanders with a water cannon that sent them scrambling for cover.
The field events kick off with a flag raising by the Boy Scouts and the singing of the national anthem. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
Harvard’s League of Women voters was out in force as well, celebrating the First Amendment right of free speech and carrying signs critiquing the Supreme Court’s 2022 denial of a constitutional right to abortion that the Fourth of July Committee had banned in 2023. But also present were members of the climate committee’s electric lawn mower brigade, delighting bystanders with their choreographed antics and the chorus of battery-driven leaf blowers behind them.
Independence Day in Harvard follows a time-tested choreography of its own, one that would be familiar to anyone who served on the all volunteer Fourth of July Committee 50 years ago.
The day begins early, at 9 a.m. with the Great Harvard July 4th 5-mile Road Race and 1-mile Fun Run, which draw hundreds of runners and their families to the Bromfield School for an event in which some of the youngest athletes in town get their first taste of competition.
At 10 a.m. there’s a bike decorating competition on the Common, and then at 11 a.m. the parade gets underway, proceeding from Depot Road past Town Hall, past the Common and General Store, and down Mass. Ave. to the library field. There one can expect a flag raising, a singing of the national anthem, and an afternoon of games, contests, and field events.
More than 20 organizations participated in this year’s parade, which got underway promptly at 11 with the ringing of the restored bells of the Unitarian Universalist Church. The town’s police vehicles, followed by a six-member color guard, led the way past the scores of bystanders who crowded the route along Ayer Road and Mass. Ave., some seated in chairs, others on a curb or on a wall. Children scrambled for candy tossed from the backs of parade trucks and floats or by marchers—Pixy Stix were reportedly the least popular of the offerings. American flags and a lone Fire Department flag hung from utility poles along the parade route.
The Nashoba Valley Concert Band, seated on the back of a Snag & Drag flatbed, played patriotic music. Grand Marshal Paul Willard, the climate brigade, and the League of Women Voters drew applause, as did many of the antique cars interspersed throughout the lineup. The temperature soared well into the 80s accompanied by tropical humidity, imbuing one sign carried by a climate committee marcher with a plaintiveness beyond its words: “It’s warming. It’s BAD. We can fix it!”
Harvard’s state representative, Dan Sena, and state senator, Jamie Eldridge, were present, Eldridge working the crowd and Sena pulling a red Radio Flyer bearing his two children and accompanied by his wife, Melinda. Select Board members Don Ludwig and Rich Maiore followed with bags of candy, joined by mystery guest Dan Nason, Harvard’s presumptive town administrator—once his contract is negotiated and signed.
In addition to the Barbie homage of Harvard’s lifeguards, the parade included floats contributed by the Parent Teachers Organization, a truck and wagon decked out in red, white, and blue balloons and ribbons and an inflatable Uncle Sam; the Bare Hill Rowing Association, featuring an erg machine and honoring this year’s Olympic athletes; Carlson Orchards, promising 2024 will be “the year the stone fruit makes a comeback”; and the Lions Club, whose truck towed a panorama of events and services the charitable group offers throughout the year. And as always, Harvard’s fire trucks and the ambulance brought up the rear, the nee-naw of their sirens punctuating the parade’s end. In the lineup was Engine 13, Harvard’s new ladder truck, which was followed by the white elephant it replaced.
At the library field, Rachel Molnar sang the national anthem without accompaniment as Boy Scouts raised the flag and the color guard stood at attention.
Callia Sintros and Luci Gulha cross the finish line in the three-legged race. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
Then it was time for the games to begin, with Andrew Sinkewicz as host. A line for food at the Lions Club concession quickly formed, reaching within minutes all the way to the Mass. Ave. embankment, while Pete and Dylan’s truck provided ice cream nearby. This year’s face painting booth was a popular offering at $10 apiece, as were the pie eating, greased pole, tin can toss, duck pond, and other games. The first game was free; repeaters could purchase a ticket for two more tries for a dollar.
At 1 p.m., attention shifted to the midfield where the popular sack, three-legged, and parent-child relay races are held each year. By 3 p.m., the field had emptied and cleanup had begun.
Throughout the day, the three-member Fourth of July Committee of Molly Sinkewicz, Rosemary Ouellet, and Chris Chalifoux, the chair, were aided by an army of volunteers, including the coaches and players of the boys and girls varsity soccer teams and others. They were assisted by DPW workers who set up and then collected the tents, chairs, trash containers, and fences needed throughout the day.
Select Board members Don Ludwig and Rich Maiore give out candy to Recreation Director Anne McWaters as her son Ben looks on. (Photo by Jen Manell)
“The weather cooperated well for both parade and field events, which always makes things easier,” Ouellet wrote the Press in an email. Chalifoux said that while his responsibilities for events on the field prevented him from watching the parade, he had not received any complaints about “political messaging.”
Colleen McFadden, a member of the League of Women Voters of Harvard and an outspoken critic of last year’s effort by the Fourth of July Committee to suppress controversial speech, was also pleased. “The parade went very smoothly,” she said. “The Fourth of July Committee honored their revised policy.” She said she had assisted the parade organizers as a volunteer and “saw no issues at all.”