“We the People” did not hold back this year when it came to using their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and expression. Before what many participants and organizers have called one of the larger crowds in recent memory, revelers filled Warren Village, Brooks Field, and the parking lot at Lincoln Peak to celebrate the Fourth of July this year.
After a couple of days of blistering heat, the cooler temps on Friday made for pleasant viewing and socializing as people took advantage of it. The village filled up early in advance of the 10 a.m. start of the parade with people parking along both sides of Route 100 and roads leading into the village and even more people queuing up at Lincoln Peak to ride the shuttle into Warren.
The parade got underway at 10 a.m. sharp-ish with the rifle blast and color guard, the Warren Fire Department and this year’s parade marshals, the Warren Public Library librarians, trustees, and Friends (celebrating 125 years) followed by local librarians with their customary street/square dance featuring library carts and more.
The floats and their political messages were well received and any politician in America would pay to get the kind of reception that Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders gets when he waves his way through Warren Village. It’s like watching a wave at a stadium, accompanied by loud chants of “Bernie, Bernie!” Sanders enjoyed some strategic placement behind the Mad River Glen float this year.
Following the parade, the annual street dance in front of The Warren Store attracted a huge crowd and the activities at Brooks Field were so popular that vendors ran out of beer, hard cider, water, hot dogs, and buns!
Gwenna Peters, of the Waterbury Rotary Club, and its former president said that the booth her members were staffing for the Mad River Valley Rotary ran out of beer by noon and ran out of water and hard cider not long after.
“We ran out of beer; it was a great problem to have. People were having such a good time. They brought their lawn chairs and sat in the beer garden watching kids have sack races and play in the bounce house,” Peters said.
Sugarbush Resort took the reins on the community celebration after things wound down in Warren Village, offering free lift rides, food, music and more. That celebration lasted until fireworks brought the curtain down on the day’s festivities.
Here are the judges’ awards and comments on this year’s floats.
Best in Show: TIE between Prickly Herd - Stampede for Democracy and Friends of the Valley (Sicky) - Gulf of Vermont; These phenomenal floats both deserve high accolades for their large participation rate and incredible efforts.
Best on Theme: MRV & Beyond Librarians - Reading Gives You Wings
Best Song Medley: Sicky Band
Best Chant: Indivisible MRV - Drum Him Out
Most Committed & Revered Politician: Bernie Sanders
Show Stopping Music: Zen Barn
Best Ski Area Promotion: TIE between Mad River Glen and Sugarbush Resort
Best Dance Routine: Studio 100
Most Peaceful: Madigan Linnane
Best One-Person Float: All Gummed Up
Planting our Future Generation: Living Tree Alliance
Best Antique Family Truck: The Viens Family w/ Reo Speedwagon
Best Antique Car: Librarian’s Chauffeur - 1968 Pontiac GTO Convertible
Best Antique Farm Equipment: The Keith’s 1957 and 1952 John Deere Tractors
Best Community Service: Free Wheelin’
Best Promotion: MRV Rotary
Best Newcomer: United We Stand from Huntington
Smallest Float: Brenda on a 1958 bicycle
Off Our Backs: Washington County Republicans and an unknown woman
Best Kids Float: Sculpture School
Most Athletic Kids: Mad River Soccer
Most Historical and Best Costumes: General and Lois Wait for the Waitsfield Historical Society
Representing Generations of Valley Families: Gaylord Farm
Representing all long-serving community volunteers: Gordie Eurich - 65 years with the Waitsfield Fire Department
Best Tag Line: MRV Ambulance - “You Fall, We Haul”
“The judges of the Warren Parade want to thank all the volunteers and participants for their time and energy to make this annual event such a great success. The floats were fantastic and embraced the spirit of the moment. These “awards” are sometimes tongue in cheek, sometimes silly but mostly just meant to recognize the hard work each of the participants put into their floats. Not everyone gets an award but we want to say we see you. An enormous thanks goes out to the Mad River Rotary for taking on this event and to the new team led by Ben Olds…trained by Susan Klein,” the judges wrote in their remarks.
