1997 Bristol 4th of July Celebration Report

1997 Two Hundred Twenty-first Anniversary of American Independence

Committee Business 
At the first meeting of the new calendar year, January 6, 1997, Committee Treasurer Frances O’Donnell reported the condition of the Committee’s finances as follows:

BAL: 11/30/96

Deposits

Withdrawal

BAL: 12/31/96

$67,292.34

$1,173.68

$718.69

$67,747.33

 National TV Coverage
Manny Pasqual announced that he had been contacted by ABC-TV News concerning a documentary of the USA in the twentieth century. The television network was interested in viewing home movies of the town’s 1976 bicentennial celebration and parade for possible inclusion in the documentary program.

 Ruggiero Named Chief Marshal
At a ceremony held at the Burnside Memorial Building, General Chair Donna Marshall named Bristol Town Council Chairman Richard Ruggiero as her Chief Marshal.

Ruggiero said he accepted the honor in January. When asked if he expected any criticism of his selection while serving as council chairman, he responded, “Can you please everyone in Bristol? Absolutely not. I think I’m deserving of the honor. Anyone who doubts it, all they have to do is look at my resume. This isn’t a political thing.^[1]”

In addition to his service on the Bristol Town Council, Ruggiero has been involved with the sons of Italy, Knights of Columbus, Cup Defenders, and Bristol Substance Abuse Task Force and Babe Ruth baseball.

 Flag Day Reception^[2
Lisa Sienkiewicz reported to the general Committee, at the May 14, meeting, that the Flag Day reception would be held on the front lawn of Linden Place because the East Lawn was already booked. She requested additional funding to rent a tent, chairs, tables, and possibly a portable toilet.

James Farley, Jr., moved that the Committee allot $1,000 for two tents, lights, chairs, and tables to be used at Linden Place. The motion passed unanimously.

 Fourth of July Breakfast
 Donna Marshall told the Committee that a special “thank you” package was compiled for major sponsors. The package included a continental breakfast on the morning of the fourth. She said that the Committee should have a tent for the breakfast, and she would like to purchase a 10’ x 10’ umbrella tent for approximately $200. She said that Dunkin Donuts would donate the breakfast. A motion to purchase a tent was passed unanimously.

 Parade Route Banners
Since 1997, Bristol’s parade route has sported 60 colorful banners with the official 4^th of July Celebration logo. The banners are secured on both ends, top and bottom, to a metal bracket attached to utility poles. Thus the banners hang vertically, perpendicular to the road.

Kenneth Marshall originally suggested the idea; he did the research and guided the idea through the Committee bureaucracy. To support the banner effort, and help recoup the costs, the Committee asked donors to “adopt” a banner in their name or in memory of a loved one at $100 each.

The Committee was pleased to learn at its June 24, meeting, that all banners had been adopted and there was a waiting list for additional adoptions, including another $1,000 from the Chief Marshals’ Association.

The Committee collected all monies for adoptions, totaling approximately $6,000. The Town purchased 30 stock banners and all the brackets to hang the banners. The Committee approved a motion to appropriate $3,000 collected from adoptions back into the program for purchasing additional banners and maintenance of the current sixty banners.

 Calendar of Events
Bristol’s annual Independence Day celebration kicked off on Flag Day, June 14, and reached its crescendo on the evening of July 4. The 1997 celebration spanned a full seventeen days concerts, exhibits and athletic events, and receptions.

The Rockwell Amusements Midway and Carnival opened at 6 p.m., on Wednesday, July 2, on the Town Common.

 The Parade
Despite early threats of rain, the skies remained clear throughout Bristol’s special day. This year’s parade was very much like several previous years’ parades featuring a familiar mix of marching bands, military units, civic floats, politicians, police, firefighters and entertainers.

At precisely 10:30 a.m., a cannon fired, police sirens wailed, and a cloud of 40 white homing pigeons flapped in the air at the corner of Hope and Chestnut Streets. The Town Crier swung his bell while announcing the beginning of the parade, and Chief Marshal Richard Ruggiero gave the order to “Forward march.”

With temperatures reaching into the upper 80s, sweat began to show on the colorful costumed and nattily uniformed marchers; even spectators comfortable under sheltering tree canopies felt the heat.

The most significant change to the 1997 parade was a shuffling of divisions. The Veterans’ division was moved to lead spot behind the Chief Marshal’s Division.

Parade Chairman Kenneth Marshall said, “This is primarily a military parade, and we really want to pay tribute to the veterans.”

Marshall said this year’s crowd was the biggest he’s seen in years. In places, he said, the crowd was so thick that the parade’s progress was impeded.

 “It slowed portions of it down,” he said, “I’m not complaining, I’m actually rather proud that we had so much participation.”

Marshall said the parade cost about $150,000. Much of that money was spent on appearance fees for eight drum and bugle corps that made appearances.

The colorful crowd-pleasing Palestine Temple Shriners of Cranston reappeared after an absence of several years; they made up a large section of the parade with marching units, bands, clowns, and large men in miniature electric vehicles.

One of the Shriner bands rode on a trailer and played exotic melodies as a hefty, gray-haired, bearded man in full Arabian regalia danced to the rhythm, waving a shiny, wide curved scimitar in his right hand.

Governor Lincoln Almond did not attempt to hide his unofficial bid for reelection while waving to the crowd from the back of a National Guard jeep. With his wife, Marilyn, at his side, Almond said he hoped to return to the Bristol parade as governor in 1998^.[3]

Ahead of the governor’s jeep, former US Senator Claiborne Pell, nearly 80 years old, walked to the music of the Portuguese Independent Band. This was Pell’s thirty-sixth appearance in the parade. His first appearance was as a military aide for Senator Theodore Francis Greene when he was Chief Marshal in 1959.

Flanked by US Representative Robert Weygand and US Senator Jack Reed, Pell acknowledged the sustained applause from the sidewalk and stopped briefly on High Street as members of the crowd offered him water and juice.

US Representative Patrick Kennedy, Bristol resident General Treasurer Nancy Mayer, and Secretary of State James Langevin also garnered the approval of the crowd as they made their way along the parade route.

Overall, the celebration went off without a hitch. The Committee of organizers put together one of the largest, most well attended parades ever, highlighted by controlled, enthusiastic, and highly entertained crowds. The parade suffered few interruptions and rolled virtually without missing a beat.

The drum corps competition was a smashing success. Patriotic Exercises attracted more than just the usual sprinkling of interested citizens.

The fireworks over Bristol Harbor were called one of the best ever, and far better than fireworks displays in neighboring communities.

 Committee Business Wrap-up
Final reports of the various Subcommittees and the treasurer’s report were read.

Activity

Income

Expenses

Profit

Ball

7,525.00

5,736.26

1,788.71

Bands & Concerts

26,223.00

29,303.80

5,919.20

Banner Adoptions

7,600.00

4,146.00

3,473.29

BYC Reception

1,339.50

Car show

391.00

225.00

166.00

Carnival

15,000

Concessions

2,517.80

Country Dance

325.00

Ecumenical

276.00

Enlisted Party

663.30

Fireworks

25,000.00

Floats

441.00

Lottery

12,845.00

5,787.25

7,057.75

Mail Solicitations

6,490.00

130.00

Military Food

572.00

Music & Entertainment

7,212.25

Parade

10,484.25

Parade Collection

3,968.09

Soccer Tournament

39,200.00

30,400.00

4,070.00

Souvenir Program

19,787.50

5783.00

14,004.50

Souvenirs

17,789.74

8,693.49

9,096.25

Special Gifts

36,344.82

Trophies

476.00

Vending

19,925.00

184.05

19,740.95

 Elections of officers for the 1998 celebration year held on July 31, 1997.

Chairman

Richard Luiz

Vice Chair

Frances O’Donnell

Treasurer

Donna Falcoa

Corresponding Secretary

Kimberly Campbell

Recording Secretary

Donna St. Angelo

 Chairman Luiz reported that the Warren 250th Anniversary Parade Committee had contacted him. The Warren group made a request to borrow the Bristol Parade Committee’s division banners to use in their parade. A motion to loan the banners passed unanimously.

Luiz said he had spoken to George Sisson regarding the Committee’s use of the second floor of the Court House for general committee meetings. Sisson said he would bring the question to the Court House board for an opinion and vote.

^[1] Town Council Chairman and Chief Marshal Ruggiero is mistaken in thinking that the most visible and honored position in town, second only to that of Chairman of the town council, is not political. Anyone who doubts the politicalizing of the post of Chief Marshal has only to look at the political leanings of past Committee Chairmen and the men who were their choices for the post. In Bristol, most citizens’ political leanings are well known. An analysis of the list of chairmen and their marshals will reveal, almost without exception, Democrat Committee chairs appoint Democrat marshals and the Republican chairs appoint a Republican or right-leaning Marshals.

[2] Beginning in 1997, and on and off for several years, the Bristol Phoenix has wagged a critical finger at the Committee for throwing lavish parties for the benefit of Committee members and a few “insiders”. The Flag Day reception is never advertised; only invited guests and members are informed of its time and place. The 1997 affair, held on the front lawn of Linden Place, may have been a tactical error because the festivities were open for all Hope Street passersby to witness.

[3] Local, state, and national elected Rhode Island politicians seldom, if ever, miss a Bristol 4^th of July Parade while they are in office or running for reelection. It is their chance to unabashedly pander the crowd for votes. It is worthy to note, that politicians when no longer in elected office (except for some former Bristol politicians), seldom, if ever, do they return to Bristol on the 4^th of July.