The Valley Reporter - 'Symbols of Freedom' draws huge crowd

Visitors and locals flooded Warren this past Thursday for the 71^st Fourth of July parade. The theme of this year’s parade was “Symbols of Freedom.”

Parade day turned out sunny and hot with an extra few thousand bodies maneuvering up and down Main Street in Warren. While waiting for the starting cannon, individuals enjoyed vendors and looked for “their buddy” in the annual Buddy Badge game where individuals are tagged with a numbered sticker and must find another person with the same number. Winners won a matching pair of prizes; the game was sponsored by WDEV Radio Vermont Group.

As the cannon sounded for the start of the parade, people took to the sidewalks and banks along Main Street.

Click image below to open slideshow:

Sean Lawson of Lawson’s Finest Liquids was the first of the parade floats as parade grand marshal and was followed by a variety of floats ranging from all types of colors, themes and political satire.

Local sports teams, jugglers, antique cars and local businesses such as Sugarbush Soaring, Sugarbush Resort, LaRock Property Management, Hap’s Service Station, Mad River Eye Care and more were present to represent their establishments.

Politician’s represented were Bernie Sanders, who was not present, and Kari Dolan, who walked in the parade. Other political satire walkers posed in Trump masks and diapers. Others depicted the Mueller report with blacked out sentences prompting people to save democracy.

KW Vermont Mad River Valley - Homes, Estates, Condos, and land

The floats this year were amazingly constructed, such as the giant moving sea turtle that had individuals moving arms and legs for full affect. Prickly Mountain’s “Free the Sea” floats comprised of a pirate ship, mermaids, scuba divers and soaring glaciers with polar bears were represented. “Save the Sea” also had signs prompting individuals to save the turtles and to stop ocean pollution.

Click image below to open slideshow:

Mad River fire departments were present and equipped with water guns to spray and cool down paradegoers.

Valley librarians pooled their resources and took to running a maypole-like dance with their library carts. Each cart had a freedom poster on it sporting freedom of expression, free access to ideas and freedom to ask for help and they ended the routine with a comical shushing of the crowd.

Local music was also heard, as local bands played a mixture of independence jams. Zenbarn, located in Waterbury, had two large live marijuana plants on their musical float.

At the conclusion of the parade, visitors were welcomed by Sugarbush for disc golf, lift-served mountain biking, zipline, barbecue, live music and kids’ activities. There were vendors and live music at Brooks Field at Warren Elementary School. Vendors included American Flatbread, The Skinny Pancake, Scout’s Honor, Samosa Man, Pingala Cafe, Grace’s Tamale, Yak Cart, MRV Rotary hot dogs and Cornerstone Pub. Fireworks capped off the festivities at Sugarbush Resort.

Click image below to open slideshow: