Newton celebrated the 4th of July on Saturday, marking the 250th anniversary of American independence. Despite impending storms in nearby towns, celebrations in the Garden City went on with gusto, featuring an impressive fireworks display in the evening, and parades, a carnival, vendors, and ice cream earlier in the day.
The festivities began at 10AM sharp at the Newton Centre Bowl, where families and children had the opportunity to participate in several parades while enjoying the cool comforts of complimentary Cabot’s ice cream, which was scooped by community volunteers and local leaders and representatives.
To add to the historic feeling of the day, two community members dressed as Abigail Adams and Betsy Ross went around the field, answering questions from families. The actors also joined the families and children in the parades, which included a patriotic costume parade, a pet parade, and a bike and scooter parade.
Participants were also able to interact with emergency vehicles, including fire trucks and an ambulance parked on the adjacent Tyler Terrace, with information provided by the vehicles’ crews.
Before the activities commenced, Paula Gannon, Director of Community Events and Programs for the City of Newton, said a few words to the assembled crowd, thanking her colleagues in both the departments of Events and Programs and Parks and Recreation for making the 4th of July celebrations possible.
Gannon then introduced Mayor Marc Laredo, who also extended thanks to the team behind the festivities.
Mayor Laredo thanked Gannon for putting together the event, and he thanked Cabot’s Ice Cream and the Prestejohn family, including the former owner, Joe Prestejohn, for providing ice cream and for supporting Newton for 50 years. Laredo also thanked the Fire Department, as well as the numerous volunteers and community leaders present.
After receiving the microphone back from Mayor Laredo, Gannon introduced Parks and Recreation Commissioner Mark Welch, who presented the Scout honor guard from Troop 209. As the Scouts held the American flag before those assembled, rising senior Bomi Woo from Newton South High School sang the national anthem.
Subsequently, Gannon introduced historic figures Abigail Adams and Betsy Ross, brought to bear by Historic Newton, which had a tent on the field. She also highlighted the other activities present, such as arts and crafts, and thanked the programming’s sponsor, the Celebree School of Newton, which also had a tent set up.
At noon, the events at the Newton Centre Bowl concluded, and people began journeying towards Albemarle Field, where more activities would await them starting from 1PM. Present were 50 crafters and vendors from all across Newton, offering food, interesting gifts, and much more. There was also a carnival, which ran in the afternoon and evening with many rides, including a Ferris wheel.
The festivities on Albemarle Field also featured six different musical acts: the CK Brass Quintet, the City Hall Strummers, the FM Collective, Ingrid Chiemi, Harmony Highway, and the main act, the Bo & Bill Winiker Band, who brought listeners along on a musical journey from colonial times to the modern day.
Senior officers of the City — including Mayor Marc Laredo, Police Chief Tim Cohoon, Fire Chief Greg Gentile, and Chief Community Services Officer John Rice — distributed American flags throughout the crowd.
Notwithstanding the large crowds, the events proceeded in an orderly fashion, with everyone enjoying a good spot under the sky by evening time.
Around 9PM, Mayor Laredo spoke to the evening crowd, emphasizing the importance of democracy in the current political climate and praising Newton for protecting those values at every turn, ensuring that all who stay in Newton, whether for their whole lives or just a little while, are able to live in comfort and have their needs met.
Newton South HS rising Junior Ji Jeong then sang the national anthem, and the fireworks began, ending with cheers from the crowd after the finale.
Midway through the finale, the Fire Department sprang into action to extinguish a small brush fire apparently ignited by debris from a firework falling behind Gath Pool. The crew very quickly put out the fire and searched a wider area for any errant sparks.
In an interview with Fig City News, Paula Gannon said that planning the 4th of July event represented a significant effort, necessitating cooperation from many different people and departments to stitch all the components together into “one big Newton celebration.”
“The 4th of July is, I would say, the largest one-day event that my department runs for the city, and we literally started at the beginning of the year. So it’s a multi-month event planning. And so it takes many departments, many outside vendors, to think about what we want to offer to the community, and then the whole marketing piece to make sure we’re reaching the community so that they can come out and enjoy it. It takes a lot, a lot of planning,” Gannon said.
When asked about what makes Newton celebrations of the 4th of July special, Mayor Marc Laredo reaffirmed his opinion that Newton is the best city or town in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and that its rich community and traditions make events such as Independence Day as great as they are.
“We’ve been doing this event for many years now… We are just a wonderful community, and whenever I go out and talk to residents, as I do throughout my tenure as mayor, and when I was running, it always struck me that people …love living in this city. And my job is to ensure that this is, and continues to be, the best place to live,” Laredo said.