The Fourth of July Celebrations -- oops

Ivadel remembers:

The Fourth of July was another day that was planned for and talked about with great anticipation. The parade was made up of homemade floats, decorated bicycles and towns people dressed up as clowns or in some other funny costume. The school ground was the location of the first celebration as I remember and there it was that the races and other athletic events took place. However, the pie eating contest for boys and the nail pounding contest for women was held on the back porch of the Arsenal building.

The ice cream booths managed by the ladies of the various churches were very popular because we didn't have commercial ice cream very often. In fact, it was only made at home for a special occasion.

When it grew dark and it was time for the fireworks display, crowds assembled around the platform that had been set up on the corner where the Salisbury school now stands. On two occasions a near tragedy occurred. Someone was careless with the lighters and after a few Roman candles and sky rockets had been shot off, a sudden glare burst forth. In an instant the air was full of the hot fireworks, shooting in all directions. People ran as fast as they could away from the area and horses pulled at their reins that tied them to the fence. In no time, all of our July 4^th fireworks were wasted. Luckily no one was hurt.

Louis Howe wrote this account of the Fourth. “The old Fourth of July celebrations were the biggest events of the year. Jimmy Guinan and I were a track team between us. I could be counted on to win the high jump and Jimmy hardly ever lost the 100 yard dash. The prizes were cash, something we could always use.”

Dorotha remembers:

Fourth of July was always an exciting time. Richard would always wake us up with 3” long fire crackers outside our bedroom window, then would hurry on his bicycle, which he had trimmed with this and that, in order to get in the parade later on. One time the Fourth almost ended in a catastrophe as the fireworks at night were always held on the school grounds and this one year someone was careless I guess because the whole shebang went off at once every which way. The horses that were tied by the farms coming to town for the fireworks bolted and everyone screamed and ran for cover. No one fortunately was hurt I think, but it scared everyone silly and ruined the display I can tell you.

Gertrude (another little girl at the time) wrote:

Mother lent our horse Bob to the head of the village council to ride in a Fourth of July parade. And one of the floats got running away and ran into Bob and hurt him. He was never safe for riding after that.