FARMINGTON – Scraggly teeth, eye patches and swashbuckling sword play ruled the July 4 parade that brought hundreds out to see the spectacle.
The Farmington Rotary Club’s annual parade theme was pirates and pirates aplenty marched or rode on islands and ships created on truck beds and trailers.
The Notify MD employees, under the direction of co-worker Chancell Luce, worked for a whole week on their pirate ship float.
“Lots of cardboard, newspaper and duct tape,” offered one “pirate” at the bow. The work and elaborate costume, with faces smeared with a mixture of coffee grounds and petroleum jelly for the authentic unshaven look, proved worth the effort. Notify MD won both the First Place ribbon and the Judges’ Choice award.
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Responses of participants surveyed before parade start as to what they thought the connection between pirates and the Fourth of July might were varied. One person holding a saber and wearing an eye patch thought maybe it was the pirates who introduced the western world to fireworks. A few said both were festive and fun.
Bill Crandall of Farmington, who dramatized a sword fight with Fred O. Smith along the parade route as part of the Franklin County Republican Committee float, said the pirate-July 4th theme: “It’s a sign of the times; the government is looting our wallets.”
Pirates weren’t the only thing marching down Main Street. Veterans, antique farm equipment and farm animals, antique cars and trucks, the Old Crow Band, bagpipe play, and gospel music also took center street. Politicians, too, with placards, balloons and leaflets;
After the parade, The Pierce House on Main Street sponsored a free concert on the lawn featuring the Centennial Brass Band of Portland, playing patriotic tunes. Members of the Old South Congregational Church sold strawberry shortcake with local strawberries from David and Verna Pike’s farm in Farmington, and there will be free hot dogs next door at Henderson Memorial Baptist Church, where contributions could be made to the Franklin County Ecumenical Heating Fund.
