Jul. 4—New Boston takes its Fourth of July parade seriously.
In a town of about 6,000 residents, it looked like every one of them, plus a couple thousand friends and family, packed into Central Square for the town’s 93rd edition on Thursday.
We hold this truth to be self-evident: In a sea of neighbors, newcomers and red, white and blue, all the festive trappings of Americana combined with a science-fiction/fantasy float theme to boldly declare these small-town folks love celebrating where they’re from.
“If you want to see America, come to New Boston,” said Kris Jensen, a Milford resident who rode on the New Boston Space Force Station’s alien-themed float.
What’s more American than Area 51, “The Wizard of Oz,” the Molly Stark Cannon, fire trucks, mini-monster trucks, Girl Scouts and giant water guns on a perfect 85-degree day?
For Olivia Phillippy, who just graduated from Goffstown High School and is headed to the College of Charleston in South Carolina this fall, the day was bittersweet.
“I think about all the memories we’ve made. I’ve been coming to this parade my whole life. We’re all really close,” said Phillippy, dressed as Dorothy from “The Wizard of Oz.”
She joined relatives and members of her family who dressed up as the Wicked Witch (Sarah Martin) and the Tin Man (Karac Shamberger). Children dressed as members of the Lollipop Guild handed out candy to the families and spectators along the parade route.
“New Boston has the best traditions,” said Shamberger, a Navy veteran from Campton whose wife, Taylor, is from New Boston.
The Wicked Witch scared up some good fun on an elaborate float complete with a tornado, Dorothy’s displaced home, a large rainbow and the wizard himself, pulling all the strings behind an Emerald City curtain.
Another float, titled “Alien Abduction on McCurdy Road,” featured the out-of-this-world antics of neighbors who danced around as blow-up alien suits chased them toward a giant silver ship with a stuffed cow ensnared in its tractor beam.
Jimmy Allen of New Boston said it took his team about a month to design and deliver on their zany idea.
New Boston is known unofficially to locals as the gravity center of the world and is home to a Space Force station. The parade also featured floats depicting Elliott’s bike ride with E.T. and a pretty scary scientist experimenting on the alien once he came out of Elliott’s closet after playing with Gertie.
In all, there were 10 floats entered in the annual float contest and about 1,000 participants in the parade, said Laura Bernard, the lead organizer.
Many other floats were off-theme but just as celebratory — in particular, a large Kelly-green duck boat with all 18 of the Boston Celtics’ championship banners.
Tanya Ricker, director of the Whipple Free Library, corralled a bunch of younger residents on the library’s “Adventure Begins at Your Library” float. Kids were dressed as storybook characters, with Ricker in a Fancy Nancy costume leading the way.
Ricker and friend Natalie Lapointe grew up in New Boston, daughters of volunteer firefighters, and participated in parades from the time they were little. Natalie was just a baby the first time she was in the parade as her dad pulled the horse-drawn, antique fire pump.
“The Fourth of July is magical in New Boston,” Ricker said. “There’s nothing like it in the whole world.”
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