Thousands of spectators donning red, white, and blue washed over downtown Edgartown on Friday for the town’s 181st annual Fourth of July parade. The procession of floats, antique cars, and marchers traveled down Main Street, throwing candy and beaded necklaces that children and families on the sidewalks hungrily gathered up.
The parade is a joint collaboration between the town and the American Legion Post 186. As drums, bagpipes, and songs rang out, the parade exited the Edgartown School parking lot and headed down Main Street, past the lighthouse, and back toward the school.
Joseph Sollitto Jr. has been the parade’s organizer since 2013. He said that this year’s parade ran smoothly. “The weather was very cooperative compared to some years,” Sollitto said.
Despite the challenges of managing a large group, Solitto takes pleasure in planning the parade. “People really enjoy it and it’s a lot of fun. It’s like herding cats to get everybody lined up,” he joked.
Pride participants were having a good time Friday.
Sarah Doyle, owner of Pond View Farm in West Tisbury, has participated in the parade for roughly two decades and has won awards for the farm’s creative displays. Doyle said that participating in the parade fosters collaboration amongst the children at the farm’s summer camp in a festive way.
“It’s a slice of Americana and it’s an unbelievable community building process for the kids to do this all together,” she said.
This year’s float involved a trailer displaying a massive cutout of a carousel as tribute to the Flying Horses Carousel in Oak Bluffs. In the bed of the pickup truck was Harry Potter, a 14 year-old miniature horse. Sporting a braided mane and tail adorned with red, white, and blue flowers, he’s the star of the farm’s float every year.
Doyle said that while other floats centered around the movie “Jaws,” Pond View chose the Flying Horses as their theme to focus on another Island icon that’s also horse-related.
Although preparing and dismantling the float is a tedious process, Doyle said the memorable experience the parade gives to the children makes the effort worth it. “It wouldn’t feel like the Fourth of July if we didn’t do it,” she said. “It’s going to be a core memory for every one of these kids.”
To celebrate their 50th anniversary as an organization, the Vineyard Preservation Trust designed a float that showcased their historic preservation efforts throughout the Island. On a trailer attached to a semi-truck stood three cutouts each depicting a building maintained by the Trust: Grange Hall in West Tisbury, the Old Whaling Church in Edgartown, and the Union Chapel in Oak Bluffs.
Vineyard Preservation Trust Executive Director Nevette Previd wanted their float to spread awareness about the Trust’s preservation efforts on the Island.
“The idea is that the buildings and their shapes are iconic,” she said.
Production company Bill Haney Live Theater Division teamed up with the Martha’s Vineyard Chamber of Commerce to create a float promoting their Broadway play, “The Shark is Broken.” The production, which is a comedy based on the filming of “Jaws,” will be showing at the Martha’s Vineyard Performing Arts Center starting July 5.
Pulled by a pickup truck with a cardboard sign reading “We need a bigger truck,” the float displayed an eight-and-a-half-foot shark used in one of the play’s performances.
Karen Nascembeni, COO of Theater Division, said they were thrilled to be participating in the parade with the chamber.
“We believe, if you’re going to do business in a town, you have to be a member of the chamber,” she said.
Among the families and visitors watching the parade, many were decked out in patriotic attire.
Alton Hues, a seasonal Edgartown resident who attended the parade, sported a stars-and-stripes suit and top hat. Hues said that he selected his outfit to show the love for the country. Jeff Mckenna, a visitor from Phoenix, AZ with a family house in West Tisbury, watched the parade in an American flag printed button-up shirt. He likes that the parade features many antique vehicles.
“It’s one of the best Fourth of July parades in the country,” he said. “Its authenticity is the fact that it doesn’t change.”
On Saturday, Edgartown Chief of Police Chris Dolby sent out an announcement to Edgartown safety personnel to thank them for their assistance during the parade.
“I want to extend my sincere gratitude to our entire [police] Department, Edgartown Fire Department, Harbormaster, Parks, Highway, and all the other agencies that joined us for your outstanding work and support during the town’s Fourth of July celebration yesterday,” Dolby wrote. “Your professionalism, dedication, and calm presence were evident throughout the day.”
As the parade retreated back toward the Edgartown School, smiling families and children savouring bags stuffed with candy were left in its wake. However, there are some exceptions. Amy Austin and Jose Caldero, seasonal residents in Vineyard Haven, have an interesting ritual.
“We often will watch the second time [the parade passes through] and throw the candy we caught [from] the first time back to the people on the floats,” Austin said.
Caldero enjoys seeing generations of families at the parade.
“We brought our kids here when they were so little and now seeing everybody else doing the same thing and carrying on the tradition is a great time to have,” he said.
