East Hampton's Old Home Days: How A Governor Jumpstarted A Tradition

EAST HAMPTON, CT — You can save the date as East Hampton's annual Old Home Days tradition will be held on July 6, 7, 8 "with the largest parade in Middlesex County, rides, games, great food, the Rails to Trails race and so much more."

The parade is held on Saturday mornings and encompasses a route of 1.5 miles on the way to the Center School Fairgrounds.

Dean Markham, penned the entire history of Old Home Days, which you can read in its entirety here. The town tradition was revived in 1979 and was held annually until 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, Markham wrote.

Markham wrote that the "main feature was a parade, but not just any old parade." The event includes three days of music, including live bands.

Markham wrote that the event received a major shot in the arm in the 1980s when East Hampton native, William A. O'Neill, who served as Connecticut's 84th governor, attended. O'Neill would often march in the parade. He served as governor from 1980 to 1991.

Markham told Patch that he's personally been to about 35 of the Old Home Days events. The event began with church groups in 1910-11. After a few years, the veteran organizations took over the planning and operation of the event.

Old Home Days came to an end after World War II and was restarted in the mid 50s, but Old Home Days wasn't held annually, it would be "hit-and-miss," Markham said. There were only a few events in the 1960s, the biggest was the town's bicentennial in 1967 and then the United States' bicentennial in 1976.

After 1976, there was a strong push in the community to revive Old Home Days and commit to making it an annual event.

Markham said O'Neil, who "never saw a parade he didn't like," was the catalyst in helping make Old Home Days a permanent town fixture.

Because of O'Neil's vast influence, he was able to get special groups to perform, including the Governor's Horse Guard or a flyover by the National Guard, Markham said.

Markham said the event is all "community backed," as the food booths are local, and all the organizations in town participate including the rotary, lions, little league, ambulance association, fire department, local schools marching bands, and Boy and Girl Scouts.

What's unique is that all the entertainment is free, and the committee spends the year raising the necessary money. No taxpayer dollars are utilized, all the funds are raised through volunteers, Markham said.

There have been some changes over time, though. Markham said in the early days there used to be a baseball game that was played, and then it evolved to performances and plays. Now it's live music and bands.

East Hampton Old Home Days is run entirely on donations from local residents and businesses. You can learn about how to make a donation here.

>>>Read Dean Markham's entire history of Old Home Days here.