Our 2021 Campaign was successfully completed and we are now fundraising for 2022. Please connect to that campaign by clicking on this link: fundrazr.com/BrownsvilleIDC-2022
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Brownsville/West Windsor is a small town in Vermont that puts on a varied and well known celebration for the birth of our nation. A volunteer community committee manages organizing and fundraising for the Brownsville Independence Day celebrations and we need your help to make it happen! It's said “It takes a village” and, indeed, it does. Events are put on by volunteers and most funding comes from individuals like you, in addition to a $2,000 donation of town funds approved each year by the community at our traditional Town Meeting each March. Keep reading to see what our celebrations looked like in 2019. Hopefully we can repeat this all - even better - in a post-quarantine summer of 2021. Fingers crossed.
So step up, pitch in, and come enjoy the celebrations. Thanks!
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Celebrations of Independence Day abound in Vermont. Parades and fireworks are everywhere but nowhere is the celebration comparable to what happens in our small village of Brownsville, population of about 1,050, where thousands of residents, relatives, neighbors and visitors gather to enjoy an old fashioned fourth in the shadow of our local mountain. Added to nature's blessings are our extraordinary community involvement, support, spirit and pride.
The celebration starts with the July 3rd fireworks, held in our beautiful Ascutney mountainside amphitheater. In the early summer evening, hundreds of friends, neighbors and guests from other communities gather on blankets and folding chairs, awaiting the show. Children scamper freely while parents watch unworried, knowing a child’s fall will be on soft grass and no one will get lost. The Dixie Band plays old favorites and you can count on the Moonlighters’ hot dogs and hamburgers and the familiar ice cream truck. As the light fades, the toys of the children begin to glow. Now it’s dark, a feeling of anticipation fills the air… when will “they” begin? Suddenly, a big bang, a flash of light and the glorious sparkling colors begin to fill the sky. For 25 minutes young and old are transfixed, eyes upward, with ‘oohs’ and ‘ahs' as the beautiful fireworks work their magic over the skies of the village of Brownsville. It is magical!
The fireworks end, but Brownsville magic continues. It occurs in the parking lot, of all places. In the darkness, hundreds of happy people head to their cars with only flashlights to guide them, parents with sleepy children, folks of all ages looking for their vehicles. And then the magic, the extraordinary…. with hundreds of cars heading for the one available exit, with only headlights and the steady flashlight guidance of two firefighters to guide them, quietly, silently, in the night, each car patiently waits its turn, letting one another ‘in’. Not one car horn honk is sounded! Unbelievable and unforgettable, an extraordinary happening taken for granted. Our “America the Beautiful", the Golden Rule.
Celebrations continue on the 4th, for a second day. The day begins with the pancake breakfast, served with Vermont maple syrup. As the morning develops, so do the range of community-organized that are set up at the intersection of Route 44 and the Brownsville-Hartland Rd, with beautiful Ascutney mountain as backdrop. The crowd grows. Buyers ponder purchases at the Mary Blood Library outdoor Book Sale, the Dixieland Band plays, the Moonlighters are once again selling food and drink while kids are playing games on the Albert Bridge School field. Inside Story Memorial Town Hall vendors sell their wares. The Information booth is busy directing the Mt. Ascutney Hospital scooter ferrying parade participants. Friends and neighbors merrily meet and greet but clearly everyone is awaiting the Big Event…..The Parade. Excitement builds and you can feel it. But as one o’clock nears, our eyes do not scan down a road for the parade. Oh no! Not in Brownsville! In Brownsville, eyes look uphill, up to the crest of the Brownsville-Hartland Road. In Brownsville the July 4th parade comes down a hill! At the stroke of one o’clock, the church bell sounds and the blue light of the Windsor police escort car leading the parade flashes on, and down the Brownsville-Hartland Road comes The Parade. As far as the eye can see, marching groups, antique cars, gleaming firetrucks, and floats representing the community and those who service it, “float" down the hill. A splendid and memorable event for our small village and town!
