Members of Randolph Bethany Church guide a giant dove puppet along the parade route and over the crowd during the Randolph Independence Day Parade. (Herald/Dylan Kelley)
Thousands of residents from the Randolph area and beyond descended on the town Monday for the city’s annual Independence Day Parade, an exuberant celebration that saw near-perfect weather as dozens of floats headed from the ‘Hospital Hill and through the city centre.
Led, according to tradition, by the American Legion Post 9 color guard, the parade began shortly after 10 a.m. as children with kites and their families lined the streets and sidewalks, eager to cheer on your favorite floats or get a few candies thrown. towards them from the participants of the parade. Following the rendition of the United States National Anthem by RUHS graduate Amanda Ferris, Master Tom Harty received the biggest applause of the morning when he introduced Irene Schaefer, who greeted from a vintage sports car, as grand marshal of this year’s parade.
After Schaefer’s big introduction, the parade ramped up the energy level with appearances by the Catamount Pipe Band, several Randolph-area fire departments and their colleagues from elsewhere in the Valley. White laughs. A small army of Gifford Healthcare workers then paraded down Main Street, including CEO Dan Bennett, who managed to stay atop his bike despite the parade’s majestic pace.
Genny Albert shoots a bubble bomb from the Arts Bus during the Randolph Independence Day Parade Monday morning. (Herald/Dylan Kelley)
The middle section of the parade featured an array of area businesses, churches, Girl Scout troops and performers, including the Mountain House Dance Company and the cast of the Chandler Summer Youth Musical “Legally Blonde, the Musical.”
Additional floats included Magee Office Products, Stockwell’s Garage and the Orange County Republicans.
For about an hour, the parade ended in true Randolph fashion with the tunes of the Bear Mountain Jammers, a crowd favorite that traditionally ends the parade on a high note.
After the parade, many attendees flocked north to the city’s recreation field on School Street for an additional festival, including music and performances by Step ‘n’ Time line dancers, as well as food, paint faces and bounce houses.
Children go through a bounce house at the Independence Day festival near downtown Randolph on Monday afternoon. (Herald/Dylan Kelley)
For Linda Runnion, who organized the White River Valley Chamber of Commerce parade and festival, this year’s lineup of festivities was a huge success.
“The festival was great, we had wonderful food vendors with long, long lines – with the bouncy houses, there were still kids at three o’clock when they had to go out and deflate it!” Runnion said, noting that at least 4 to 5,000 people had lined the parade route.
After an extensive planning process that began in February, Runnion said her favorite part is, after all the organizing plans and changes, the parade itself finally gets underway.
“I really like when everything starts and I’m walking! I always join the Bear Mountain Jammers at the end, because we like to end the parade with their wonderful music.”
Runnion also added that despite the lengthy process, she and the WRV Chamber board had already tentatively started thinking about July 4, 2023 when they arrived at the recreation field.
“The board and I were sitting in one of the tents, talking about what we’re planning for next year!”
