MANCHESTER — Fireworks, which Manchester has every other year, will kick off the town's Fourth of July celebrations tonight at 9.
"It's kind of tough to raise $30,000 for fireworks every year. That's why we have them every two years," said Joe Sabella, chairman of the Fourth of July Committee.
According to Matthew Casparius, director of parks and recreation, the overall cost of Fourth of July festivities is $55,000. The town contributes $6,000, but the remaining $49,000 is raised through the donations of the businesses and people of Manchester.
"Which is pretty impressive," said Casparius.
"The community dug deep to help themselves out," said Sabella, who added that the Fourth of July Committee is extremely grateful.
The fireworks will explode over Singing Beach tonight. According to Casparius, the show is being held the day before the Fourth because they share the same launch barge with the Beverly Farms fireworks show, which will be held Friday night.
Parking is always an issue in a small town like Manchester, so this year the Fourth of July Committee coordinated with the police to devise a parking plan for the fireworks. Because of the limited space, officials suggest that residents walk to the beach from their homes or park downtown and walk from there.
Motorists looking to park nearer the beach will be directed to park on the harbor side of Beach Street to provide a safe lane on the other side of the street for pedestrians to walk. Police will require vehicles to park facing toward the center of town.
The handicapped and disabled will be allowed to park at the Singing Beach parking lot. Vehicles from this lot will be the last ones to clear the area at the end of the night. In order for the lot to be clear in time for the show, officials warn that anyone parked in the lot after 6:30 p.m. will be towed. Handicapped parking in the lot will start at 7 p.m.
During the fireworks, gray "Manchester Fourth of July Parade" T-shirts will be on sale for $10, and $50 raffle tickets will be available. The raffle will be drawn on Friday at Coach Ed Field Playground after the parade. Cash prizes totaling $5,000 will be awarded, with the first prize starting at $2,500.
Parade
The Fourth of July Parade, which has been a tradition since the late 1800s, will begin tomorow at 9:30 a.m. It will include about 40 floats, along with classic cars, antique bicycles and bands. The parade route begins and ends on Vine Street, and visits Norwood Avenue and Central, Pine, Pleasant and School streets along the way.
Any new features to the parade are largely a mystery until the floats register tomorrow morning at Memorial Elementary School.
"There's always something new but we won't know until they register that morning," said Sabella. He added that the committee believes that the floats should remain family-oriented. Float registration ends at 8:30 a.m.
One new feature that the Fourth of July Committee is certain of, however, is that some local elementary school girls will be riding on the lead fire engine in this year's parade. They raised $56.44 from a bakery sale and donated the proceeds to the Fourth of July Committee, which was grateful for the gift.
"It just shows the range of age (of people) who enjoy the parade," said Sabella.
The committee is certain that 25 to 30 antique cars will show up for the parade. For the same reason as the floats, it is difficult to determine what types of cars will be entered.
Another feature of the Manchester parade that is returning is the antique bicycles that date to the late 19th century. The tradition was started by Dee Bourough's husband Bill, who died in 2003 at the age of 85.
As a mechanical engineer who taught at the high school after retiring, he instilled a love of high-wheeler bicycles (called penny farthing bikes in England) in some of his students — who have ridden the antique contraptions in the parade ever since.
"It's so cool to see them," said Town Clerk Gretchen Wood about the bicycles. "They've been in there for years."
Though much stays the same, float judging has changed this year. It used to be conducted by a town official. The judge would have a spot on the green in front of Town Hall to survey the parade and cast judgment.
Because most people want to attend family parties, the Fourth of July Committee has selected a house along the parade route where there will be a large party going on and the people at the party will cast their votes on the best floats.
"So this way we're going to bring the polling to the party," said Sabella. The home is on Pleasant Street.
People can park before the parade at the Town Hall or in Sweeney Park at 113 Summer St. The roads near Sweeney Park will close at 8:45 a.m. and the others will close at 9 a.m. The roads will be reopened to traffic after the parade ends at 11 a.m.
Post-parade festivities
Once the parade is over, festivities will commence at Coach Ed Field Playground at 11 a.m. The Boston Crusaders, a drum and bugle corps, will perform.
Drawings for cash prizes will take place, and the fun will conclude at noon with the traditional skydiving show. The divers will perform aerial acrobatics as they descend and one aerialist usually has a flag strapped to his back.
"It's visually impressive to see them come in," said Casparius.
Wood, who has lived in Manchester for 54 years, said that the skydiving show is an old tradition that was started by the Gavin family. The tradition has been around for so long that there were skydivers during the Fourth of July celebration when her children were young. The oldest of them is now 40.
"They were all into skydiving," said Wood about the Gavin family. However, as time progressed, other groups were brought in and the Gavins were phased out.
Michael Farrell can be reached at gt_reporter@gloucestertimes.com.
