Once again, Bristolians have sent the British packing. We hope everyone had a lot of fun at last weekend's Brits Attack Bristol events — we sure did!

As you know, a lot of hard work goes into planning these events. As we humbly thank those who graciously co-hosted, sponsored, volunteered, and otherwise helped make the weekend a success, I want to acknowledge the efforts of another unsung group of heroes on whom these events depended.

Thank you to Melissa Cordeiro, Carla DaCosta, and the team in the Town Clerk's office for helping me figure out how to permit an event like this (and for reminding me to pick up and pay for my liquor license).
Thank you to Warren Rensehausen, Tim Shaw, and the team at Bristol Parks and Rec for talking through the best use of space for the event and helping me fill out the correct paperwork.

Thank you to Chief Michael DeMello and the Bristol Fire Department for making sure that we didn't actually burn Bristol down.

Thank you to Captain Steven St. Pierre, Natalie Stone, and the Bristol Police Department for ensuring that everyone remained safe from British attacks.

Thank you to Chris Parella and his team at the Bristol DPW for marking out the lines of safety in Independence Park and for extra trash cans (in case the British didn't clean up after themselves).

Thank you to Diane Sanna of the BWRSD and the Bristol Rotary for ensuring that all BWRSD students had a free pass to tour the Tall Ship Lynx.

Thank you to Christy Nadalin and the Bristol Phoenix for a magnitude of publicity I could only dream about.

Thank you to Ann Kathrin Weldy at the Rogers Free Library, and Myron Polulak and Mark D'Agostino of the St. Michael's Men's Group for hosting lectures on the history behind the British Attacks.

Thank you to Alayne White and Explore Bristol for providing an extraordinary level of community coordination and greatly facilitating contact with local businesses.

Thank you to Mike Reilly for allowing me to push his services as Town Crier in a new direction.

Thank you to my BH&PS colleagues, Rei Battcher for playing Simeon Potter, Chelsea Johnston for managing the re-enactments, and Lisa DeCesare for maintaining the home front. A special thanks to Dory Skemp for figuring out how all this information should be arranged on our website (which was not nearly as easy as it sounds).

And lastly, thank you to my team of extraordinary board members, Janie Dauterive, Carol Gafford, Dory Skemp, Lynn Smith, Larry Verria, and Sarah Weed — you are the very best this lucky Director could ask for! Thank you so much!

These are the moments when I am proud to live in Bristol. Let's do it again in 250 years — or maybe 5, because it was such good fun!

Catherine W. Zipf
Director, Bristol Historical & Preservation Society