This is a celebration of where we came from and our community. Even if you move away from town, you always come back for the Fourth.”

Gail Parella

Gail Parella and Lisa Sienkiewicz have never craved the spotlight. The sisters who own Gil’s Appliances have always preferred to work in the background, supporting others who are front and center.

But now the sisters have no choice but to step into the limelight. They are the faces of this year’s Bristol Fourth of July celebration, named co-Chief Marshals Wednesday night.

“It is very humbling and very special to us and our whole family,” Ms. Sienkiewicz said.

“The fact that they thought about us is overwhelming,” Ms. Parella added.

The fact that they don’t tend to seek the spotlight and would be surprised to even be considered for the honor is part of the reason why General Chairwoman Donna Falcoa chose the two.

“They are two great women who have done a lot for the community, always behind the scenes,” Ms. Falcoa said. “They don’t do what they do for the credit; they do it for the love of the community.”

It is fitting that the sisters will serve together as chief marshals. The Fourth of July has always been a family affair for them, bringing together relatives from all over who would congregate at their father’s store — originally Gil’s Music Center on Wood Street — and family home above before walking down to Hope Street for the Patriotic Exercises and the parade. The Almeida family extended beyond relatives, including some of the prominent residents of the town who would frequent Gil’s, many of whom served as chief marshals themselves.

“They were people our family interacted with a lot,” Ms. Sienkiewicz said. “They were role models for us.”

Now the sisters walk in their footsteps, given the honor of hosting the oldest Fourth of July celebration in the nation, an annual celebration neither sister has missed in their entire lives. Ms. Falcoa also chose the pair because of their commitment to the community and in recognition of their legacy of family and community values.

Both women grew up above their father’s Wood Street store, going to work almost every day with their father, Gil, and helping transition from a record shop, to a music and appliance retailer, to the appliance store it is today on Metacom Avenue. The pair inherited the business in the mid-1990s after their father sadly succumbed to Alzheimer’s disease.

Lisa Sienkiewicz

Ms. Sienkiewicz is a 1983 graduate of Our Lady of Fatima High School. She grew up in town and remains here, living with her husband of 26 years, Frank Sienkiewicz, and their two children — Sarah, a senior at Northeastern University, and Alex, a student at Portsmouth Abbey.

A committed volunteer, Lisa is a member of 100 Women Who Care RI, a current member of the Gordon School Heads Advisory Council, a class parent coordinator for Portsmouth Abbey Fifth Form, and a lector at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church. She formerly held positions as Gordon Community Association co-president, Gordon Centennial Celebration co-president, and is a past member of the Gordon School Finance Committee. She is also a member of the East Bay and Newport chambers of commerce.

Ms. Sienkiewicz is a former member of the Bristol Fourth of July Committee, a group she said she wanted to join since she was a little girl. She has helped organize the order of march at the Chestnut Street starting line for the parade, and worked with the vending committee and on the Miss Fourth of July Pageant. She continued with the committee for several years until her father fell ill, and family and work duties put constraints on her time.

“If we can’t give 100 percent, we don’t want to do it,” she said of her and Ms. Parella. “We don’t want to give 50 percent. If we do it, we’re all in.”

Gail Parella

Growing up in the same household, Ms. Parella shares many of the same memories as her sister of family, and plans to continue the tradition of celebrating the Fourth with the whole family.

“Our honor is theirs, too,” she said of family members, including her late parents, Gil and Sarah. “This is as much for them as it is for us.”

Ms. Parella graduated from Bishop Connelly High School in 1987 and then Rhode Island College in 1991. She continues to live in town with her husband of 17 years, Joe Parella, a former Bristol Town Administrator and chief marshal, and their three sons — Matthew, a sixth-grader, and Joey, an eighth-grader, both of whom attend St. Philomela School; and Peter, a Fourth Form Student at Portsmouth Abbey.

Also an avid volunteer in the community and at her children’s schools, Ms. Parella has held such roles as co-chair for the St. Philomena School Fundraising Auction in 2011 and 2012, as well as head room parent for multiple classes at St. Philomena School, coordinating activities and parties for the students.

She is a communicant of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, a member of the Sons of Italy, and a parent volunteer for Bristol’s King Philip Little League. In addition, she and her husband are former Chairpersons of the Catholic Charity Fund Appeal for Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church.

She has worked with Ms. Sienkiewicz at Gil’s for more than 21 years, and also belongs to the East Bay and Newport chambers of commerce.

The sisters are putting the same work ethic that allows them to run a successful business into hosting the Fourth of July celebration. They’re compiling their list of duties — which is extensive — and marking their calendars with the multitude of events chief marshals are to attend, including the upcoming Chief Marshals Reception the pair will host.

“We have a lot to do, but we’re good under pressure,” Ms. Parella said. “We generally like to do what we do quietly. We like to help organizations and help people. Time is tight, but we do everything we can.”

Like everything they do, both women plan to involve their families, which extends to their 15 employees at Gil’s. And they can’t wait to share the experience — and the secret of their appointment, which they have known about since December.

“Donna (Falcoa, parade general chairwoman) called us just before Christmas and said she needed to talk to us about advertising,” Ms. Sienkiewicz said. “We were stunned. We were like, ‘Are you sure?’ It is such an incredible honor.”

“It’s been hard to keep it secret. I think the kids are really going to be excited.” Ms. Parella said. “This is a celebration of where we came from and our community. Even if you move away from town, you always come back for the Fourth.”