WINSLOW — Wearing matching red, white and blue tutus and patriotic ribbons in their hair on Saturday, 2-year-old twin sisters Keira and Joslin Dixon and their 4-year-old sister, Sera, were ready for the annual Fourth of July parade — even if it was a day late.
Because of drizzly conditions all day on Friday, the fourth, the 24th annual Winslow Family 4th of July Celebration parade was postponed until Saturday. It was one of several area celebrations affected by Mother Nature.
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“This is our ninth year in the parade, and this was the first one with rain,” said Peg Gurney, director of the George J. Mitchell School Childcare program, which had a “Jungle Book”-themed float in the parade.
Umbrellas were almost as common as American flags at the parade, as a light rain accompanied the firetrucks, local celebrities and floats as they progressed from Winslow High School through town toward Fort Halifax Park.
Although the rescheduling of the parade drew ire from some who either had to work Saturday or could not attend the parade for other reasons, thousands of spectators lined the streets of Winslow on Saturday morning.
“We come here every year. My grandmother lives right here,” said Shanon Dixon, mother of the three Doxpn girls. “They’re excited about the firetrucks.”
Sitting in front of her grandmother’s house on North Garand Street with a large rainbow umbrella — just in case — Dixon said she is no stranger to the annual parade.
“Oh my gosh, I’ve come to the parade every single year,” she said.
The parade started at 11 a.m., getting delayed an hour from its original start time to avoid some early morning showers. While the postponement disappointed some of the children involved in the parade, Gurney said, it also gave them more time to build up the energy for the two-hour stroll through town.
“Having it postponed, the kids were a little bummed,” Gurney said. “But today, as you can see, their energy is up. They’re going to be dancing to ‘Eye of the Tiger’ once we get going.”
The float, which was decked out in homemade jungle vines and painted jungle animals, was done with help from the children, ranging from kindergartners to sixth-graders.
“The children picked the final idea for the float,” Gurney said. “This is all about relationships, making bonds with friends and having fun.”
The parade went off without a hitch, according to Winslow police Lt. Josh Veilleux, who said about half as many people lined the streets as last year.
“It was one of the smoothest parades I can remember,” he said. “There were no issues. It was very timely, no big gaps in the parade.”
Thursday’s events, highlighted by country music star John Michael Montgomery’s free show, went off without incident, with roughly 25,000 people heading to the park for a variety of country music performances.
Saturday’s fireworks were scheduled to begin shortly after 9 p.m., with five bands playing at the park throughout the day.
Jesse Scardina — 861-9239
Twitter: @jessescardina
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