by JENNIFER McDERMOTT, Associated Press
The town that boasts the nation’s oldest Fourth of July celebration is in turmoil over a plan to shorten its 2.5-mile parade route.
The committee that runs the celebration in Bristol, Rhode Island, voted last week to cut about half a mile off the route because of security concerns and feedback from bands that the parade is too long. But opponents of the plan say it’s an unwelcome change that was done without enough community input. More than 2,500 people have signed an online petition opposing it.
The committee will take a revote Thursday night, and opponents say they plan to attend to fight it.
A celebration of Independence Day has taken place in Bristol since 1785 and now attracts around 100,000 people.
The event has become entwined with the town’s identity. A red-white-and-blue center stripe runs down the town’s main street, and real estate listings for houses often note if they are on or near the parade route.
The route has changed in the past, but it always has wound through downtown Bristol. It was lengthened about 40 years ago before the nation’s bicentennial in 1976 and has kept to that route ever since.
Bristol Town Council Chairman Nathan Calouro said he understands why people are upset and disappointed; some have watched the parade along that section for decades and built up traditions around the parade and the patriotic festivities leading up to it.
For Bristol natives, July Fourth celebrations are “part of your psyche,” Calouro added.
“We love the Fourth of July. We’re not the most patriotic town in America for nothing,” he said. “We commit to it.”
Fran O’Donnell, the parade chairwoman, said the committee, which has more than 150 members, chose to cut that section because the only exit is along the street, and police officials in the past have said they worry about getting first responders and equipment there in an emergency.
O’Donnell said she expected some residents to be upset.
“Some people just don’t like change,” she said. “Unfortunately the ones that are unhappy are the loudest.”
One resident complained to the attorney general’s office that the committee violated open meetings laws by not posting on its agenda that a vote was scheduled, so O’Donnell called for another vote on Thursday night. She thinks some committee members could be swayed, and the outcome could change because of the outcry.
O’Donnell said she knows Bristol takes pride in the parade.
“We’re a very patriotic community,” she said. “We get it. But it’s not just Bristol’s parade. I don’t mean that to slight Bristolians, but it belongs to more than just Bristol.”
Parade chair Fran O’Donnell talked about her reasons for supporting the parade being shortened in an in depth interview with WPRO’s Matt Allen on Tuesday night. LISTEN BELOW:
