Town of Bristol says its prepared for 4th of July parade, rain or shine

BRISTOL, R.I. (WLNE) –Bristol is the home of America’s oldest, continuous Fourth of July celebration, this year marks the town’s 238th Fourth of July parade.

Crowds of people arrived to the town on Monday to celebrate the historic holiday a little early.

Henry B. Santos, Bristol resident said, “I don’t know where all the people come from — especially yesterday and the two weeks of the concerts, I have never seen so much of a crowd.”

Mike Reilly, another resident and Bristol’s town crier explained, “We live in the greatest town in America.”

For residents living along the parade route, the workload and preparation began early.

“This isn’t just the day before, we are doing work about a week ahead of time,” said Paul Furtado, a Bristol resident who lives on the parade route.

“You have to really plan out three or four days at least and we’re still not done yet,” Furtado continued.

Furtado continued by saying that the town still celebrates even in the case of bad weather.

“We are not going to let it stop us either — we have had some pretty nasty weather over the past few years. In fact, once we had a complete washout five or six years ago,” Furtado explained. “The parade was going — so we were here too,” he finished.

For some, returning to Bristol has become a tradition. The class of 1981 gets together every single year on the third of July to catch up, a tradition they hope continues for years to come.

Donna Flanagan, another Bristol native said, “I am a Bristolian through and through and I have been all over the world, but I still come back, and if any holiday I come back for, it’s the Fourth of July.”

Bristol will host a firework show Monday night at 9:30 p.m., followed by the 238th Fourth of July parade on Tuesday, starting at 10:30 a.m.