It was well worth the wait.

A large crowd braved chilly temperatures early Saturday morning at Mt. Hope High School waiting patiently for their brand new, specially-designed Fourth of July patriotic license plates. In the end, everyone seemed pleased.

“We were coming up on six years waiting for these plates,” said a smiling Judy Squires, Fourth of July license plate subcommittee co-chair. “This is great. I love these plates.”

Committee General Chairman Donna M. Falcoa couldn’t wait to get the plates on her car. “I’m so excited,” she said. “They’re beautiful. I’m hoping even more people will order these plates.”

Elisabeth Ridder, a member of the Fourth of July license plate subcommittee, worked throughout the course of the day helping distribute the plates, and said everything went smoothly. Once her duties were fulfilled, she had her plates affixed to her vehicle.

“The license plates are beautifully designed,” she said. “I was excited that after six years when the idea was first brought up, we finally got the plates. I love having them and being a part of Bristol’s patriotic pride.”

Ms. Squires said it was a great team effort distributing and getting these plates on vehicles in the Mt. Hope High School parking lot.

“We finally did it after almost six years,” she repeated. “This was a huge team effort from many wonderful, hard working committee members, and friends and family members, too. I’m so proud to be a member of this committee for 40 years. Saturday confirmed why I have been on this committee for 40 years. When my co-chair, Heidi Vermilyea, and I asked for help with this fundraiser, so many committee members ‘stepped up to the plate’ (no pun intended) to assist us. They gave up their precious free time Saturday to make the distribution run smoothly.”

Ms. Squires also thanked Wayne Picard for his marketing ideas. “That helped us get way past the 900 that we needed,” she said. “Saturday, we distributed over 1,100 plates of the 1,450 that were sold. Everyone was so excited to finally get their plates.”

In addition, the committee also collected non-perishable food for the food pantries in town from people picking up their plates.

“This was Chuck MacDonough's idea six years ago,” Ms. Squires said. “It was also his idea to do this plate, and Dave Burns designed it.”

While most plates will be seen in Bristol, the program was;t restricted to the town and drivers from all over Rhode Island are showing their patriotism on their cars. And you can still get yours. Order forms can be printed from the Fourth of July website (www.july4thbristolri.com), or picked up at the Bristol Phoenix, Town Hall, or at AAA in Barrington.

“This project will continue indefinitely with $5.00 for every plate sold going to the RI Veterans Home,” Ms. Squires said.