Snug Harbor, RI

4th of July Parade

July 4, 2005

Snug Harbor, Rhode Island.
Fourth of July, 1986
(though, if you've been there, you'd swear it must have been back in the 40's or 50's)

Somebody said "let's have a parade . ."
So a few families taped some flags on their cars,
or on their bicycles,
and rode up and down the not-very-many streets of quiet little Snug Harbor.

It must have been fun, because this year was number twenty.
And though it's grown bigger every year,
and a little wackier,
the spirit remains the same.

Nobody really organizes it, people just show up.
6pm, 4th of July, every year.
Local residents, summer renters, daytrippers from hundreds of miles away,
they come to Snug Harbor to be in the parade, or to watch it,
or sometimes a little of both.

It's "small town America" remembering what that used to mean.

Because everybody loves a parade.

And all you absolutely need is:

a nice stretch of road and a friendly crowd . .

 

some cool trucks . .

 

some vintage cars . .

 

maybe a tractor or two . .

 

did I mention vintage cars?

 

and some home-made cars . .

 

and . . uhm . . I think there's a golf cart under all that . .

 

 

some jazzy sisters and blues brothers . .

 

some fishing rods and kazoos . .

 

a "thing" full of family . .

 

an angel and a mermaid or two . .

 

and, of course, the always popular patriotic pooch!

That's it.

That's all you really need.

See you in 2006!

 

BACK TO MATUNUCK SAND SCULPTURE

. . or . .

BACK TO "On the Road" PAGE