by: Sandi Durell
The past few years, July 4th was a visual wonder of boats, elaborate Macy’s Fireworks displays and watching thousands of people pass beneath the windows of a skyscraper on West 42nd Street on their way to the Hudson River for up close and personal views of the happenings. That was when we spent the Independence Day celebrations with my daughter in her apartment on a high floor near the river together with friends and family, the oohs and aahs as each display topped the one prior!
Today, however, we’re having a whole new experience in a small town in Connecticut where we’re renting a house, not to mention the fact that my daughter has now moved to the Eastside lower downtown. And so, we found ourselves at the Town Grove at the Lake in Salisbury, where hundreds of local residents poured out to hear the Salisbury Band on this, the band’s 85th Anniversary. Established in 1928, this traditional band has been keeping music alive at parades, concerts and community events throughout the Northwest Corner and surrounding towns.
After a rousing reading of the Declaration of Independence, the music from John Phillip Sousa, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Leroy Anderson, Paul Strayhorn and others flowed through the branches of the trees, as did the smell of hotdogs and barbequing. We watched kids and adults swimming in the lake, others in rowboats and canoes, all the while feeling warm and fuzzy knowing that similar happenings are going on across America. This is what it’s all about folks!
Happy 4th of July! Cherish Your Freedoms!
