Forest Park in Springfield was packed to the gills with revelers playing baseball, having picnics and swimming.
Springfield’s Forest Park was packed to the gills with revelers playing baseball, having picnics and swimming, but picnic-goer Tawanda Partlow said it’s usually even more crowded on July 4. At around 1 p.m., though, more people were probably to be expected, she said.
Partlow and friends Tasha King and Nikki Boyd, all of Springfield, said they arrived at
9 a.m. and planned to stay until just before the fireworks were set off downtown. High
gas prices kept them away from big party spots like Hampton and Virginia beaches and Cape Cod.
A gallon of regular gas in Springfield averaged $3.64 on Monday, up from $2.71 a year
ago, according to at AAA Pioneer Valley.
Angela Velez, her husband and children showed up around 9:30 a.m. to have their own
cook-out, cool off in the pool and wait for the fireworks. They stayed in Springfield for
a few different reasons, though. Velez, who along with her husband Luis Collazo planned to stay sober, said they wanted to avoid traveling because other people might be drinking and driving.
Also, there was the simple fact that they like being close to home.
“We like it here. It’s a great area,” she said. That’s why they’ve gone two years in a row and are planning on making it a trifecta next year.
Nicolo Scibelli, 4 and Katherine Wright, 5, both of East Longmeadow watched eagerly as the fire department walked the East Longmeadow 4th of July Parade route.
Wright said her favorite part was getting candy.
“I like the bands and the firemen,” Scibelli said.
East Longmeadow Board of Selectmen members James D. Driscoll, Enrico J. Villamaino and Paul Federici marched the parade route.
Driscoll has been attending the parade since he was a child.
“It’s a great town tradition,” he said of the parade which includes hundreds of participants and thousands of spectators.
Judy Lelas-George has a home on Maple Street which she decorates with signs reading the names of local soldiers deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Her son is currently deployed in Iraq.
“They are just signs to let them know we appreciate them and are thinking of them,” she said.
In Chesterfield, the Disney simplicity of the home-made floats at the town’s annual Independence Day Parade was a far cry from the turmoil in Iraq and Pakistan, where some of the exchange students staying at the University of Massachusetts for the summer hail from. Timothy Shea, a mentor in the Civic Initiative program, said the group has been touring the eastern seaboard from Washington, D.C., to Amherst. As in past years, they took a ride up to Chesterfield to take in America’s Independence Day festivities hilltown style.
“It’s amazing how Americans celebrate the victory that won their freedom,” said Taher Abdair, 21, an Iraqi who is studying to be a doctor. He stood elbow to elbow with fellow Iraqi exchange student Mohammed Ibrahim to take snapshots of the classic cars and fire trucks. Ibrahim, 27, a law student in the U.S. for the first time, said he didn’t expect anything like the Chesterfield parade as he was preparing for his visit.
“It’s just unbelievable,” he said. “If you want to talk about the difference between this and Iraq there is a lot to talk about.”
Their reaction was not unlike that of Jessie Krug, a Westhampton resident who has been coming to Chesterfield for the Fourth of July since 1962.
“It’s country at it’s best,” said Krug, 83. “We just love it. It says, ‘This is the way it really ought to be.’”