The oldest 4th of July holiday? It could be Bristol, Rhode Island

VaselineJuly 3, 2024

0 3 minutes read

The oldest 4th of July holiday? It could be Bristol, Rhode Island

Camille Teixeira has attended Fourth of July celebrations in her hometown of Bristol, Rhode Island, since she was a little girl, but she still gets chills during the annual parade.

She said the “great and glorious celebration” begins with a passage, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance and the National Anthem. As general chairman of this year’s festivities, Teixeira will have the best seat in the house to view the massive crowd that gathers to celebrate military veterans, police and firefighters.

“You have such pride in honoring all these people,” she said. “I’m sitting there crying through the national anthem and it’s just a wonderful experience.”

The annual celebration in Bristol’s waterfront community began long before the Fourth of July became a federal holiday, making it the nation’s oldest continuous Independence Day celebration. Teixeira said the small town is home to about 23,000 people, but more than 200,000 are expected to attend all the Fourth of July events, which began on Flag Day.

How long has the holiday been?

Bristol’s celebration began in 1785, when Revolutionary War veteran Rev. Henry Wight of the First Congregational Church led the first of what are known as patriotic exercises, an event honoring military veterans, according to the city’s website . The Bristol parade is believed to have started in the early 1800s.

Some Americans began celebrating the Fourth of July in 1777, the year after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, but the holiday did not become widely observed until after the War of 1812. By the 1870s, Independence Day had become the most important non-religious holiday for many Americans, and on June 28, 1870, Congress passed a law making Independence Day a federal holiday.

Teixeira said he has a long personal history with the holidays. Both she and her mother were runners-up for Miss Fourth of July, and participating in the pageant led to her meeting her ex-husband on the USS Newport. In 2012, Teixeira said her father was the parade’s chief marshal, and seeing the work the city does behind the scenes led her to become more involved in event planning.

“We’re celebrating 239 years and I’m excited to be a part of history and to be a part of such a wonderful tradition to bring our community together,” she said.

How does Bristol celebrate the 4th of July?

In Bristol, the annual celebrations begin on June 14. After the Flag Day ceremony comes a series of evening concerts at Independence Park, a Fourth of July ball, the Orange Crate Derby and numerous other events, Teixeira said. The city still holds traditional events, such as patriotic exercises, but the planning committee has also added new activities, such as a pickleball tournament, to keep the celebrations “fresh and different,” she said.

On Wednesday, Teixeira will welcome a US Navy ship into Bristol’s picturesque harbor with Sen. Jack Reed and present the ship’s chief officer with a Rhode Island flag before watching fireworks. Finally, the festivities will culminate in the 2.5-mile Fourth of July Military, Civic and Firefighter Parade.

In recent years, residents have come as early as 4 a.m., rain or shine, to stake out a prime spot along the parade route and decked out their homes in elaborate displays, including a near-life-size replica of the Iwo Memorial Jim. Teixeira said she attends every event the city holds leading up to Independence Day, but “the parade has always been near and dear to my heart.”

Preparing for one of the nation’s oldest 4th of July celebrations

Preparations for the events begin almost a year in advance, said Teixeira, who has been on the planning committee for 11 years. The committee has more than 100 people and more than 35 subcommittees that help bring the activities together. More than 55 additional volunteers, including several members of Teixeira’s family, help on any given evening, from setting up water coolers and arranging golf carts to cleaning up trash in Independence Park each night.

Teixeira said some of the events serve as fundraisers to fill the celebration’s half-million dollar budget.

“It’s a full production and we’re going to start all over on July 6,” Teixeira said.

Teixeira said volunteering on the committee is a big responsibility on top of her full-time job as a senior cybersecurity risk manager, but the end result is worth the long hours the team puts in.

“The thrill, it’s like being a little kid again, but you’re doing it for thousands of people,” she said. “And it’s just pure, pure joy after all the sacrifice.”

Contributing: Marina Pitofsky, USA TODAY; Linda Borg and Alex Kuffner, Providence Journal

VaselineJuly 3, 2024

0 3 minutes read

How long has the holiday been?

How does Bristol celebrate the 4th of July?

Preparing for one of the nation’s oldest 4th of July celebrations

Vaseline

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