Anita Rafael is a Wardsboro writer whose work has appeared in myriad newspapers and magazines, including this one.
WARDSBORO-On Saturday, July 4, Wardsboro is hosting what has become the biggest street fair and Independence Day parade that a small town, population 800-plus, can possibly create.
The marvelous thing about it is that Wardsboro likely reached “peak parade” over a generation ago, and since then all the goings-on of the day, including apple pies, strawberry shortcakes, and outdoor-grill chicken BBQ, are now firmly fixed as tradition.
To those who would like to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary in “the most old-fashioned, most all-American hometown manner possible, this is it,” according to the event’s emcee, Rev. Pete Carlson (aka “Pastor Pete”), who has served the Wardsboro Yoked Parish for 26 years.
“This” being the town’s “77th Annual,” Wardsboro has, as best as can be determined, the longest continuously running Fourth of July parade in Vermont. (Yes, it ran even during the lockdowns of the Covid pandemic, when all the people stayed home and vehicles formed a parade to cruise the entire town to salute everyone standing in their front yards.)
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The biggest and most exciting attraction of the day starts precisely at 10 a.m., with the pealing of the steeple bell in the historic Methodist Church on Main Street. That is the signal for onlookers to freeze in place and for the parade participants to tighten up their ranks.
The parade gathers momentum over the South Wardsboro Road bridge until the color guard and the grand marshal’s vehicle at the front of the column reach the portico on Town Hall.
Then everyone pauses. There, Carlson delivers an invocation, which is always a deeply inspiring patriotic moment. Herb Greene of Newfane has been invited to sing the National Anthem during the pause.
“Wardsboro Yoked Parish is the sponsor and coordinator of the celebration, and an army of volunteers run this event,” Carlson said. “We’re a very small congregation, maybe 25 members or so, and the funds raised on the Fourth are reserved to support people in the community based on urgent need.”
Katryna Fitzpatrick of Wardsboro, the executive chair of the Wardsboro Parade Committee, has served for 11 years on the committee, her ninth as chair.
“I joined in 2015 after the Wardsboro Yoked Parish showed my family so much love, kindness, and support when my husband fell unexpectedly ill,” Fitzpatrick said. “After receiving such compassion, I decided I wanted to be a part of this special event and help give back to others deserving of the same in my community.”
The parade is a mix of marching groups, themed floats, the inimitable Grafton Coronet Band, a slew of incredible vintage cars, bikes and things on wheels, horseback riders, and many immaculately polished fire engines, sirens silent mostly.
Children standing along the route wave flags, of course, but typically they are joyously dashing for candy tossed to them by the parade participants. A panel of judges, meanwhile, is carefully eyeing the participants for awards, but more on that later.
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The 2026 grand master is Wardsboro long-time resident Jeremy Schrauf, 87. He was chosen by the Wardsboro Parade Committee because of his decades-long dedication to the community, especially the local Scout troops.
Schrauf will be riding at the head of the parade in the back seat of Bob and Janet LeBlond’s eye-catching tomatoish-red 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible.
“It is Matador Red,”said Bob LeBlond. “I don’t have a count of the number of ribbons I have won on the Fourth for my antique cars. I have always given any ribbon I was awarded to the Grand Marshall riding in my car. After all, they are the people being honored.”
Once the parade builds up steam again, it rolls nonstop all the way to McMichael Park, barely a couple hundred yards down the street. Then the whole parade turns around and immediately comes back the same way. Therefore, the spectators get to see all of it twice. (If they marched much farther up Main Street, they would cross into Jamaica in no time.)
On the return, the judging will have been completed, and big ribbons that come with a year’s worth of bragging rights are handed to the winners of all the best-ofs in the parade — best float, best old car and so on — and to all the honorable mentions.
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Well before the church bell tolls, attractions in the street fair start opening, usually around 8:30 a.m. There is the outdoor pie tent, with all kinds of homemade fruit pies, boxed at $20, and the strawberry shortcake table at the church vestry building for $8 per dessert.
To be sure, shortcake does count as breakfast and volunteers are hulling over 240 pounds of strawberries this year. At the same time, volunteer cooks in the hamburger and hot dog tent have their grills hot and ready, too.
The 40 booths in the street fair open at 9 a.m., and those, mostly craftspeople, are lined up side by side along Main Street all the way from the Wardsboro Country Store down to the lawn at the public library, where a huge book sale goes on all day.
The street fair has many tempting raffles, too, which are fundraisers for local nonprofits and organizations. Two more crowd favorites are the colorful display of new and old handmade quilts spread out across every pew in the Methodist Church and the new exhibits by the Wardsboro History Group in the History House.
At 11 a.m. the big tent opens for the barbecue ($15 for a chicken quarter and $20 for half a bird, including a variety of hot and cold sides). There are tables and chairs under the tent, plus live music nearby, making it a great spot to hang out long into the afternoon.
All day, there are children’s activities, a petting zoo, and touch-a-truck areas for children. The action-packed Skate Jam starts at 1p.m. on the skateboard ramps and rails in McMichael Park.
Times have certainly changed — in the early days of Wardsboro’s Fourth of July celebrations, the sporting event was a baseball game of the old timers versus young men.
An insider tip: Bring your own folding chair as there is no seating at the park.
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Parking for the Fourth in Wardsboro is in fields on Route 100 just north and south of Main Street, beginning about 7:30 a.m. A free shuttle bus from the fields is provided by the Moover. It unloads passengers at the end of South Wardsboro Road bridge, but the distances from the parking areas are walkable.
Parking is also available in a field on South Wardsboro Road at $10 per carload. Be aware that the South Hill Road from Jamaica into Wardsboro will have no access to any parking areas.
For public safety, a short section of Route 100 is closed from about 10 to 11 a.m. as the parade passes; Main Street is blocked to traffic starting at 9 a.m. until after the parade has fully disbanded.
Organizers said that last-minute marchers, floats, and classic cars for the Wardsboro parade are welcome to join right up to the morning of July 4. For details on where to stage, email WardsboroParade@gmail.com.
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