FARMINGTON — As hundreds of people began to line the streets of downtown Farmington for the annual Fourth of July parade, people from many businesses, organizations, and walks of life gathered in a University of Maine at Farmington parking lot to put the finishing touches on their floats.

There was the American Legion and the Smiling Goat Precision Juggling Corps. There were the local Democratic and Republican parties. The Dusty Boots 4-H Club brought five horses for young members to ride, and a group of students acting in an upcoming production of “Shrek The Musical” got ready to sing “I’m a Believer.”

As a band plays, attorney Paul Mills dances and hands out candy in the Farmington Fourth of July parade Thursday. Emily McConville photo

All were preparing to hand out goodies, wave at happy red-white-and-blue-clad spectators and celebrate Independence Day with Farmington and the surrounding communities.

“It’s a big community builder,” said Sue Pratt, president of the Rotary Club of Farmington, which organizes the parade every year.

As always, there was an element of competition: The best floats in several categories got to sport a ribbon during the parade.

Employees of Franklin Savings Bank and their children went all out, creating a “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles”-themed procession. The previous Sunday they created all sorts of vehicles out of cardboard and spray paint.

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Garrett Brackley, 5, stepped into an airplane with a spinning propeller. His brother, Gavin, 7, drove a miniature locomotive with white and blue balloon “smoke,” while their sister Makayla, 9, wore one of several cars.

Ten-year-old Sydney Fletcher has gone to the parade “a lot of times,” she said. She was looking forward to passing out stickers and paper planes from the back of her mini pickup truck. The procession was to be flanked by a couple of ATVs driven by adults.

Blake Fernald, 8, of the Dusty Boots 4-H Horse Club poses with A Bit More Obvious, the horse he rode in the Farmington Fourth of July parade. Emily McConville photo

Police-siren blips and cheers greeted the parade as it turned from High Street onto Broadway and then Main. People waved at the floats from the shade of buildings, or the beds of their parked pickups, or from spots they had lain claim to a couple of hours before. Pinwheels, American flags, and red, white and blue abounded.

The Dingley family — parents, kids, grandparents and cousins — set up in their usual spot in the shade on South Street, the kids climbing in and out of an old wagon decorated with American flags.

“I like getting candy best,” said Bellina Dingley, 7, as her parents, Casey and Drew, minded 2-year-old Evren and 1-year-old Indigo.

There was plenty of candy to be had. Mercifully in the heat, so were Popsicles.

Firetrucks from several towns brought up the rear of the parade, firefighters waving to spectators with sirens and horns blaring.

The crowd dispersed to barbecues, swimming spots, and, in the case of the Dingley family, another parade.


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