Published in the July 5, 2016 edition
WAKEFIELD — Splashed by sun (which set brilliantly) and capped off with pyrotechnics, yesterday’s Fourth of July celebration proved once again that our nation’s birthday is for everyone.
Tens of thousands turned out for traditional kids’ events and races, a parade that keeps getting better, a concert on the Common and an impressive fireworks display.
Carol Hubbard, who co-chairs the West Side Social Club’s Fourth of July Committee, reports a great turnout for the children’s events in the morning and early afternoon on the Veterans Memorial Common and the Lower Common. Around 11 a.m., the part of the Veterans Memorial Common closest to Church Street was bounding with activity as judges were preparing to award trophies in the Doll Carriage Parade.
Vendors were beginning to set up shop at that time as well.
Several people gathered at the World War II Memorial to read names of local young men who gave the Supreme Sacrifice for their country.
The sun shined brightly for the entire day, which helped draw vast numbers to the parade and fireworks display later on.
Chairs tied together with thin plastic line and rope began appearing along the parade route as early as Friday. Space was certainly at a premium yesterday morning in front of the Beebe Library, where people reserved just about every foot of land they could find on the shaded side of the Square.
After the Wakefield Fire Department’s equipment and other pieces came south on North Avenue from Quannapowitt Parkway just after 5 p.m., parade Grand Marshal Dennis O’Leary — assistant principal of the high school — rode in the back of a convertible in style.
The Middlesex County Fife and Drums, Tony Barrie Band, the Boston Crusaders, Ambassadors Jr. Drum and Bugle Corps, the New Liberty Jazz Band, the Marching Cobras, the Jambalaya Jazz Band, the Hot Tamale Brass Band, the Connecticut Hurricanes, the Crossmen Drum and Bugle Corps and the Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps kept time along the length of the parade route.
The parade lasted just over two hours and was not plagued by interminable gaps in the line of march like so many others are.
At about 7 p.m., local talent Natalie Joly took the stage at the Bandstand. Not long after she and her band began to play, a father could be seen taking turns dancing with his daughters on the sloped hill beneath the stage. As Joly continued with covers of songs by the likes of the Jackson Five, the crowd began to swell on the Lower Common as people sought out a good spot to watch the fireworks display, which was still over an hour and a half away.
All the while, food and beverages were bought along with the usual Independence Day items like glowing necklaces and headbands.
The 2016 fireworks display began right on time at 9:30 p.m. and lasted until about 10, with private homeowners showing some impressive pyrotechnical prowess of their own during and after the West Side’s Fourth of July Committee-sponsored event.
Police reported an orderly crowd yesterday bent on simply enjoying America’s 240th birthday.
And enjoy they did.
