The Party's Over

So now it's July 4th, but in this town, the party's over.

The way I heard it, there was a group of people at the Legion on the night of the 3rd who decided that they would have the first parade on the 4th of July. So at midnight, they gathered their wares, and paraded down Main Street banging on pots and pans. This was the first annual "Pots and Pans Parade". It became a tradition in this small (6.9 square miles, population 2200) town, and for many years continued unmolested.

Then one year for no apparent reason, the police chief decided that since no parade permit had been issued, he would not allow the parade to go on as planned. This almost ended in a riot, and apparently the State Police were not too happy about the whole mess, and wondered why the chief had tried to stop the parade in the first place.

The people were not too happy with the chief either, and the following year the parade was made an official town event. It was huge that year.

While the parade is still held every year at midnight, with people and fire engines from the town and surounding communitties making quite a racket just after midnight, it has never been as big an event as that first year after the incident.

But now once again, the party's over, and this sleepy little town has tucked itself in for the night.