A socially-distanced Fourth of July parade will take place in Aquinnah on Independence Day.
The parade is a lesser known but well-loved Island tradition. At least 150 marchers and spectators turned out for the parade on Saturday, which marched down Old South Road and ended at Philbin Beach, where kids followed a treasure map and dug up a chest full of candy.
They rode on creatively crafted floats, walked, danced, rollerbladed and drove antique cars, trucks and bicycles. Children raced to collect candy hurled into the streets. Fire trucks sprayed water to cool down the crowd. And the Fourth of July celebration in Edgartown was declared a great success.
Flags were hung and picnics prepared, but many Fourth of July festivities, including the centerpiece Edgartown parade and fireworks, had been postponed by a day as the first hurricane of the season approached the northeast.
With two hours to go until parade time, the sun shone on the lines of brightly-decorated floats that filled the parking lot of the Edgartown School Thursday afternoon. Their occupants, which included members of organizations from across the Island, milled about. When the time came to begin, the parade started with a bang — literally.
The whistling of fifes, the crack of baseball bats, the streak of fireworks in the night sky — the Island's streets will swell today with the sounds of the Fourth of July.
When the clock on the Old Whaling Church strikes 5 p.m. on the Fourth of July, you can bet the annual Edgartown Fourth of July parade will be underway.
No matter that longtime grand marshal Fred B. Morgan Jr., a stickler for punctuality, has passed the torch to Joseph E. Sollitto Jr. Not much will change, least of all the prompt start.
