The Oldest 4th of July Parade in America

I grew up in Riverside, which is about 15-20 minutes away from Bristol. My family and I used to take trips to Bristol all the time for the beach and the annual 4th of July Parade. The parade has been going on every July 4 for over 110 years and is a treat for young and old alike.

Bristol is also an old colonial town with old mansions and houses that are along the tree-lined streets. Colt State Park is one of the most beautiful beaches in Rhode Island with its old mansion, Coggeshell Farms and spacious grounds where one can have a picnic, walk the trails and your dogs, and see the annual fireworks display on July 4 night.

Almost every year while I was living in Rhode Island and when I visited Rhode Island, my Mom, sister, and I would go to Bristol and see the parade. We would get an early start in the morning in order to get a good spot along the route. We would watch the parade, shake hands with the local politicians and TV personalities who marched in the parade, and have a lunch we would bring with us. It was a great way to spend July 4.

Other times, we would go to the town beach in Colt State Park or to the park itself and have a picnic and walk our dogs along the paths.

Quick Tips:

If you decide to see the Bristol 4th of July Parade, make sure that you get a very early start in order to get a decent parking place and a shady place to sit along the parade route. We always parked before Colt State Park in a shopping center there. When I last saw the parade in 1999, it was almost 100 out and sunny. Many spectators and parade participants were overcome by the heat. Shortly after that, it got too much for us to sit and watch the parade, and we went back to our friends' home nearby. Bring a picnic lunch with you and eat it on while watching the parade or buy food from the vendors along the parade route so that you don't miss any of the parade.

Colt State Park and Bristol Town Beach are less crowded and cheaper than the Newport beaches. Sometimes there is someone in the guard station at the park entrance collecting the fee, and sometimes you luck out and no one is there and you get in for free.

Best Way To Get Around:

There are buses that go to Bristol but they are not on a regular basis. The best way to get to Bristol is by car. Take I-95 to Route 195 to the Route 114 South exit (Seekonk). Follow Route 114 South through Seekonk, Riverside, Barrington, and Warren before hitting Bristol.

Many times, my family and I would go to Town Pizza for Pizza, fish and chips, or Greek food.

Town Pizza is a family owned restaurant run by Socrates and Vasilios Zafiriades, Greek immigrants and brothers who have run Town Pizza for over 25 years.

The pizzas at Town Pizza are well prepared with many choices of toppings and are available for dining in or take out. They are hot, full of flavor, and oozing with cheese. If you dine in at Town Pizza, you must try the Calamari with marinara sauce as an appetizer along with a pizza or fish and chips. All entrees are served with a large Greek salad with lettuce, tomatoes, Greek Olives, feta cheese, and a yummy oil and vinegar dressing.

Sometimes Vasilios will come out of the kitchen to say hello, and the restaurant is very popular with Riverside Little League as a place for coaches to treat their players to pizza after games. Town Pizza has been a long-time sponsor of Riverside Little League and the Zafiriadeses give a little discount to teams.

Town Pizza is a small, intimate restaurant where locals gather every Friday night to socialize with friends or to be with family. Service is quick and courteous and the food is as warm as the hospitality. Don't miss it if you ever are in Rhode Island!

The Wharf Tavern has some of the best seafood in New England. Located in Warren, one of the smallest towns in Rhode Island, its waterfront location is ideal for a romantic dinner with a loved one or to celebrate graduations and other special occasions.

When I visited the Wharf Tavern a long time ago, I had a deep-fried seafood platter with scallops, cod, and clams. It came with french fries, tartar sauce, and coleslaw. I remember I had to take it home in a doggie bag because the portions were huge. The grilled swordfish is not to be missed either, and for those who hate seafood, there is steak and chicken.

For dessert, if you are brave enough after eating your large dinner, there is a mud pie that is to die for. My sister and I had the mud pie for dessert, and it was a dream. It is an oreo cookie crust piled with coffee ice cream, tons of whipped cream, almonds, and drizzled with chocolate syrup. Savor every bit of it because there is nothing like it anywhere else.

So if you are riding the coast of Rhode Island and get hungry, stop at the Wharf Tavern and have a great eating experience.

When I was a little girl, my parents would take my sister and I to Crescent Park, an amusement park less than five minutes from our house in Riverside. We would ride the many rides and play games and eat clam cakes and clam chowder that was out of this world.

But the highlight of each trip to Crescent Park was riding the Looff Carousel at least 2 times every time. I would ride a elaborately decorated white or black horse with my sister next to me, and Nana or my parents watching us from the benches or next to us. It was quite an adventure for a little kid.

The Looff Carousel was designed by German immigrant C. Looff in 1895. There is another Looff Carousel in Spokane, Washington and some others around the USA. Crescent Park was famous for its amusement park, Shore Dinner Hall for dances, and its great seafood. People from all over New England would come to Crescent Park during the summer and enjoy what it had to offer.

In 1978, Crescent Park went out of business, and in July 1984, the Shore Dinner Hall was burned down in what was declared arson. I remember my grandfather''s funeral was the day of the Shore Dinner Hall Fire and could see the smoke from Nana''s house and heard the firetrucks rushing to save the historic hall. I felt like my childhood had ended that day with saying good-bye to Grandpa and the Shore Dinner Hall being destroyed. In 1984, 2 natives of Riverside, Rose Larisa and Gail Durfee began a campaign to save the Looff Carousel from destruction. It was a year-long fight and restoration, and the Looff Carousel re-opened for the public in August 1984.

I returned to the Looff Carousel in June 2003. My mother''s sister had sent us a newspaper clipping about the carosel being closed for repairs for the 2003 season, but my trip would not have been complete not seeing the old carousel that had so many fond childhood and adult memories for me. So I went over there after lunch and took photos of the exterior. Then, I went even closer to the carousel and noticed that the door was open and a construction worker''s truck was there. So I went to the door and looked inside and many happy memories came flooding back to me. I quickly snapped some photos and left before the workers might have yelled at me to get out.

The Looff Carousel will re-open for business in the Spring of 2004. It only costs 50 cents a ride and there is a concession stand on the grounds that sells chowder and other goodies. To get there from Route 195, Take Exit 4 (the Riverside Exit) and bear right. Drive all the way down Route 103 into Riverside. The Carousel is located on the corner of Bullocks Point and Crescent View Avenues.

I used to love riding down to Colt State Park just with my dogs or with my family. When I was a young child, Mom, Nana, my sister Erika, and I used to go to the Bristol Town Beach every week and enjoy the sun, play in the grass, or swim in the waters. My sister and I used to hunt for periwinkles in the water and look for shells on the shore. It was a great place to spend a summer day in Rhode Island.

As I got older and was able to drive, I used to take rides down to Colt State Park with my dog and walk around the Park and on the paths there. I would bring a lawn chair or a blanket and a book and whittle the day away reading and working on my suntan.

When I was last in Rhode Island in 1999, my Mom and I went to Colt State Park to see the fireworks. After 7 years of living in Idaho and anemic fireworks displays every July 4 on Payette Lake, we realized what we were missing as the fireworks exploded over our heads. Colt State Park is one of a few things things I miss about Rhode Island.

I returned to Colt State Park on the way to Newport on June 14 to relive fond memories. I noticed that it has changed a bit with new bike paths and parking areas. There has also been a statue of the late Rhode Island senator John Chaffee erected in the park facing Narragansett Bay. I stopped and took photos of our moderate Republican senator (1922-1999), former governor, and Secretary of the Navy, who did a lot for Rhode Island and earned the love and respect of many Rhod Island Democrats and Republicans. After taking pictures at Chaffee''s statue, I took the wrong way out of the park and had to be helped by a park employee, but making a wrong turn was just another good memory of Colt State Park for me.