While trying to grade any one particular Fourth of July Celebration in Bristol is a subjective task at best (especially depending on who you ask), observers of the 239th annual event can objectively agree that this year featured some of the nicest parade weather one could hope for.

Parade day landed perfectly in between a period of seemingly nonstop rainstorms and the current humid heatwave we’re experiencing, which certainly would have pained many marchers, particularly the ones donning bulky costumes and hoisting heavy marching band equipment. Partial cloud cover provided intermittent relief from the sun without robbing the day of its shine.

“It was a beautiful day and the crowd was just amazing,” said Fourth of July Committee General Chairman Camille Teixeira, who is wrapping up her first of two years as the leader of Bristol’s most cherished tradition.

For Teixeira, it was a cathartic experience to behold; the product of a nonstop year of work and planning.

“Leading the committee is a constant, 24/7 job it feels at times,” she said. “You are overseeing all of the subcommittees, overseeing a budget, managing personalities, trying to get things done. And I’m not a micromanager, so I try to let people get from Point A to Point C however they want to as long as they get their job done…We’ve got challenges happening in the background every day that people aren’t aware of.”

A first in 239 years
Part of the challenge, Teixeira admitted, is also the weight of expectations. Centuries of tradition and emotional connection to the event can make people resistant to change, or attempts to try new things.

She said she ran into some of this resistance with her decision to stream the parade on YouTube, using the services of Biz Media — unprecedented in local parade lore — rather than hand over control to a local television station to broadcast the day on traditional television.

“Getting it to a TV station is nearly impossible, first of all. Then they take over the parade and it feels like it becomes not our parade…It’s the Town’s and the Bristol Fourth of July Committee’s parade and I really wanted to honor it in a sense and bring it back home,” she said. “I thought, ‘I’m either going to be crucified for this, or I don’t know, I didn’t know what was going to happen.”

If you watched any of the stream during or after the event, this writer’s opinion is that it was of much higher production quality than expected: with local Bristolians Mary Lou Palumbo and Jenn Little providing live commentary that was more meaningful and rooted in local knowledge than could likely be achieved by outside television anchors; multiple, high-quality camera angles that cut back and forth throughout (including up close and personal shots from the route and incredibly cool aerial footage from a drone); and a more overall polished approach than anticipated.

Teixeira said the reaction was split almost into two halves between people who liked it and those who criticized the decision, since many people didn’t know how to access the stream or didn’t know it was happening at all, and because not all of the day’s events were captured as part of the broadcast.

“I’m hoping we will be better about it next year, definitely, in cleaning that up and making it more fluid,” she said. “And doing more to advertise and educate folks that we’re doing it so folks are aware of the streaming.”

No incidents of significance for police
According to Captain Steven St. Pierre of the Bristol Police Department, while the parade seemed more populated than in recent years, there were no incidents of significance to report.

“We did see heavy pedestrian and vehicle traffic leading up to and including the 3rd and the 4th, notably larger crowds than last few years in many locations, though no particular incidents of concern or of note for either the night of the 3rd or the 4th,” he said. “We experienced a reasonable and anticipated level of calls for service commensurate with the volume of people in the town and on the roadways, but nothing noteworthy or exceptional given the circumstances.”

Teixeira stressed that the partnerships between the police department, fire and rescue volunteers, and the Town Department of Public Works were critical to making the day work.

“I feel 100% safe under their watch,” she said. “I have never had a concern in that sense.”

And that’s not nothing in today’s world, where fierce political division has made for less friendly interactions between Americans throughout the nation, and where the gathering of any large crowd can put people on edge. To Teixeira, that is part of the magic of the parade.

“It is amazing how we all come together that one day and set aside our differences to celebrate as a community and a town and open our doors to visitors,” she said. “I was talking to somebody about how you can be a total stranger and people will let you use their bathroom, or they’ll feed you…On July Fourth it’s a big melting pot and everybody is embraced and it’s just wonderful. It brings us together.”

Volunteers always needed
Teixeira gave heartfelt thanks to all the members of the Fourth of July Committee who helped plan and execute the many events that lead up to the parade, and the parade itself. But as has become a common refrain among the committee — which features an inordinately high amount of older individuals — new blood will be necessary to keep the tradition going strong.

“We need more volunteers. We need more folks to assist us to put on this event,” she said. “Fortunately, we’ve had some great volunteers over the years and all the help and assistance we’ve gotten from our lifetime members, but they are aging out, with no disrespect. We need help, we need more volunteers.”

Teixeira said that volunteering is a commitment, but a worthy and manageable one for anybody who loves the tradition and wants to see it continue.

“You are only required to work the day of the parade, attend three meetings, three events,” she said. “I know it is a commitment but it is a tradition I don’t want to fall by the wayside.”