July 4th is a patriotic holiday that can bring an entire
community together with a day packed full of fun activities.
Everyone hopes to enjoy a sunny day filled with thoughts of our
wonderful country, Mom, and apple pie.
July 4th is a patriotic holiday that can bring an entire community together with a day packed full of fun activities. Everyone hopes to enjoy a sunny day filled with thoughts of our wonderful country, Mom, and apple pie.
With parades, picnics, community barbecues and the gathering of friends to watch the fireworks, small towns are at their best on this day.
And Morgan Hill does it better than any other small town. The extensive preparation for the Independence Day celebration would make any onlooker think the president was coming to town, but in fact, the community is simply getting ready for our annual festivities. Our small town parade now boasts the official parade of Santa Clara County, and is the largest privately produced parade in all of Northern California.
The official 4th of July parade of Santa Clara County. I guess I’m not biased when I claim that Morgan Hill has the best 4th of July parade around. I can remember being 7 years old and shaking my mom awake at 6 in the morning, saying “Is it time for the parade yet?”
4th of July activities have been going on in Morgan Hill for approximately 109 years now. The first evidence of 4th of July festivities was documented in the Morgan Hill Times more than 100 years ago, with a parade, a picnic and a horse race. Morgan Hill not only has a parade and a fireworks display, but also has a Fourth of July Firecracker Golf Tournament, Patriotic Sing by the local school children, a street dance on July 3rd, a 5k race and a family festival.
All of these activities wouldn’t be possible without the incredible help and support from Independence Day Inc. (IDI) and local businesses and volunteers. IDI is an all-volunteer, non-profit local organization with about 35 Morgan Hill residents who make up the committee of officers, staff and event chairpersons.
The committee meets monthly between February and August to plan the events and deploy the hundreds of volunteers who are needed to work the events. Every year over 400 individuals and 50 businesses from Morgan Hill help by contributing a total of approximately $40,000 toward the $85,000 needed to cover the cost of the various activities. The remaining money comes from vendor sales and the city of Morgan Hill.
This Fourth of July felt different than any other I’ve experienced in Morgan Hill. I was overwhelmed with a warm, fuzzy small town feeling all day long.
I think a lot of people, including myself, take Morgan Hill for granted. Yes, it’s true we’ve lost most of the means of entertainment (bowling, billiards) we once had in our town, and we are now forced to resort to tumbling down hills of grass inside cardboard boxes just to get our kicks.
But, we’re still lucky to live in a town where we recognize each other, where we can greet the postman and the grocery clerk by their first names. We live in a community where we can actually have a sense of place: We matter.
Maybe we can even make a difference. We are a part of things. This year, my Aunt Barbie called me a few weeks before the Fourth, and in her sweetest voice, (promising me anything I wanted … seriously) begged me to march in the parade with her. (She was no match for my grandmother, who wanted her to march with the band.)
So, each of us, the victim of extreme persuasion and bribery, marched in the parade with the current Emerald Regime and alumni. I marched with the Emerald Regime during my freshman, sophomore, and part of my junior years. I had to leave the band because I couldn’t do both journalism and band. I plan to have a career in journalism; no one would ever expect me to earn a living playing the flute, (I was never one to spend hours practicing my scales in the hopes of becoming first chair) so the choice was clear.
Aunt Barbie also graduated from Live Oak, and was a clarinet player in the Emerald Regime. We both celebrated the fact that we got to march in shorts and T-shirts, instead of those suffocating 400-pound wool band uniforms. We made a special shopping trip to find just the right shorts, socks, and sunglasses. We printed iron-on transfers on the computer that said “aunt” and “niece.”
My grandma, mom, aunts and uncles, cousins and friends stood on Monterey Road, shouting for us as we marched by, Of course, we followed the horses, which isn’t the most joyful experience. And at one point, I nearly collided with a wooden sign that was right in my path. Actually, I was pretty relaxed about the whole thing, but Aunt Barbie was determined to be the best alumna in the parade and felt that the weight of the band’s performance rested on her shoulders. We plan to do it every year.
It is a great parade. Every year, we have the beautifully decorated cement trucks, glistening fire engines, beautiful horses, and antique cars. The Garlic Queen and her court visit, along with an impressive number of marching bands from all over Santa Clara County.
A lot of my friends are going off to college this fall and are anxious to shake the dust from this town off their shoes. Part of me envies them for their chance to have a completely different life in a new place.
The thought of not knowing where the grocery store is sounds exciting to me. Having to discover everything all over again. Trips to find Costco becoming a grand adventure, where you’re lost in the city for over an hour.
But I know that someday when I do leave Morgan Hill, no matter where I go, this will always be my home. That knowing where the Safeway is will be a relief. That I’ll be glad I can make it to Costco without getting lost. And I hope my friends, who are getting ready to move to New York, Massachusetts, Montana, or even somewhere in California, will feel the same. And they won’t forget about our small town Fourth of July celebrations.
Chrissy Bryant is a freshman at San Jose State. She alternates weekly with Melissa Ballard in writing Teen Perspective. Contact Chrissy ed****@*************es.com
