By Mike Davis

BN Columnist

Howdy neighbor!

Our small town sure fills up for Independence Day, doesn’t it? Now, I don’t have any hard statistics for this year’s attendance numbers yet, though I’m sure someone somewhere in the town office is busy tabulating the data even now, but speaking just anecdotally, doesn’t it feel like this year the 4th of July week here in Bridgton was somehow even busier than is traditional? Oh, the usual signs and suspects are all in appearance; you can’t turn left onto Main Street, all the camps and inns and motels are filled up, and down to the supermarket cookout supplies run worryingly low while checkout lines run worryingly long, trending away somewhere into the frozen dairy aisle. 

But this year, it seems more, doesn’t it?  More traffic, more filled up restaurants, longer waits to get into and out of businesses; there’s more people here, I think, than we used to see even in the height of summer before the pandemic.  I can’t prove it, but the signs tell me, many small ones adding up in greater frequency than in years past.

Take, for instance, all that honking which is once again being heard on our streets; and I’m not talking about the Canada Geese. Barring a quick beep to passing friends, when’s the last time you heard an automobile honking in traffic on Main Street in Bridgton? Well probably very recently, in point of fact yesterday for me, but I would observe the marked phenomenon that the frequency of this occurrence falls to almost zero in the calendar months of September to May. It is a fact of summer, snowbirds honk.  Must have something to do with the stresses of their natural habitat. Since here in Maine, ‘Where the way life Should be,’ I can only speculate on all those changes happening elsewhere which now motivate so many more of them to flock hither whenever they have any spare time free to migrate.  It must be getting bad down there.

I kid of course, but only partly. Gently I hope, but for good reason. Because while as always I welcome our summer visitors, I would offer the guiding word of advice for all our readers that everyone who enjoys summer here in Bridgton, be they local or tourist, is here for the same thing.  The calm, quiet, peaceful way of life found here; a culture which I would argue can only properly exist in such a setting as ours, one of rural character, quaint Americana and relatively unspoiled natural beauty. I want this, you want this, and all those from away certainly want it too. So, let’s all do our part, everyone, not to ruin it while we’ve got it. Let’s clean up after ourselves, each move a little slower and be less impatient in our dealings, and try to get along while we’re all here together. It’ll make this summer a good deal calmer and more enjoyable for all parties.  For summer is short and soon to pass – in fact we’re already losing daylight each day, already sliding slowly back down that long slump towards winter – so while we’ve got it let’s not waste our summer in petty squabbling and frustration over little things we really ought to all be letting go. Let’s treat our fellow citizens decently, appreciating the fact that life here moves a little slower and remembering that it’s not only just the way we locals like it, it’s also a large contributing factor for why everyone else likes it here too.

This week, in honor of the excellent Independence Day celebrations which we lately enjoyed here in Bridgton to mark this 248th year of American Independence, I’d like to reflect on the incredible display of small-town community spirit which annually drives it. From the concert by the Community Band, the Craft Fair by the Rec Department, the Rotary and Lions Club’s able stewardship of the Duck Race and parade, and all the work of the local police and fire departments in organizing and directing traffic, to the incredible logistics behind the fireworks, 4 on the Fourth Road Race, and the countless nonprofit ice cream socials, strawberry breakfasts, spaghetti suppers, proclamations and community events which year after year further serve to ornament the glorious Fourth. Behind all of these notable and smoothly run events is a small army of local organizers and volunteers working tirelessly in the cause of our town, and each deserve the heartiest vote of thanks from their fellow citizens for the work put in this year. It was one of the best displays I can remember here, and certainly beat out most anything else put in our section of country, as well as the displays of many larger towns and cities farther afield. In the interest of keeping the peace, I won’t name names, but many municipalities far larger than ours, and with far greater manpower and resources, could do well to follow Bridgton’s example.

Historically, this has often been the case, for Bridgton’s 4th of July observations are often noted in local histories going back over two centuries for their size and grandeur.  Those of 1804, 1815, 1851, and 1899 are particularly noteworthy, and would that I had the space this week to relate all their particulars. But for now, in the interest of keeping up the theme of community engagement, I’d like to focus on a citizens’ petition from 1884 which I feel best expresses the spirit I’m talking about. Because that year the town fathers, owing a shortage in the budget, set no money aside for a 4th of July parade, and as June arrived and the public began to fret. A committee of 14 of our best citizens gathered together to raise the necessary funds themselves, and the subscription paper from this event is still on file in the archives of the Bridgton Historical Society.  The resolution reads: “Bridgton, June 9th, 1884. At a citizen’s meeting held at Central Hall, Bridgton, on Saturday evening June 7, a committee of fourteen was chosen to solicit subscriptions and make arrangements for a Fourth of July celebration.  We agree to pay the sums set against our names to defray the expenses of a celebration to be held at Bridgton July 4th, 1884.  The amount subscribed to be paid to the Treasurer of the Committee on or before June 25th.”

This resolve was liberally upheld. Starting with the hardware firm of Chandler & Wales, the predecessor to Wales & Hamblen, the list goes on to include a total of 36 other names, together subscribing a total sum of $347.25. The greatest donor, William M. Staples, personally gave $5 at the initial meeting and later, through his dry-goods and grocery business, subscribed an additional $76. While the list is too long to here include in full, and lacking historical context sadly many of the names thereon won’t mean much to our citizens today, it will suffice to say that this list is something of a roster for the leading men of 1880s Bridgton. There’s all the usual suspects present: Kimballs and Bennetts and Stevenses, Caswells and Libbys and Larrabees, together with a flurry of other names less-well known, and at least a few largely forgotten by even local history barring an occasional appearance on either census or voter list. 

In 1884, we find all of them united in this patriotic cause, all caring enough to give their own money and support to affect an Independence Day celebration here in Bridgton, and I can only hope that in the future all the names of those men and women now involved in preparing our current 4th of July celebrations will be as well documented as their forebears here are. The list, I expect, now runs well into the hundreds. Incidentally, the 1884 celebration proved to be everything its planners hoped and more. As the News of July 11 reported in a front-page article stretching almost three columns, “the observance of Independence Day in this village was one of the most successful affairs of the kind ever known in Bridgton. The earnest efforts of the committee bore abundant fruit, and what with the best of weather, an immense crowd, perfect order, no accident or other disturbing element, the scenic musical and literary features first-class, and the details of the entire program carried out like clockwork, it is enough to say that the event more than fulfilled the hopes of the most sanguine… courtesy and good humor pervaded the throng, and Bridgton has cause for self-congratulations that she ‘did herself proud’ by her successful celebration of Independence Day, 1884!”

How fitting, and how proud we must all be as both citizens of Bridgton and as Americans, to find these words still ring as true in this day and age as they did when first uttered.  And how funny it is, also, to see the same sort of reminder back in 1884, urging that so long as “courtesy and good humor” characterize our summer gatherings, everything will work out just fine without any “accident or disturbing element.” 

So, smile dear reader, rejoice in the beauty of summer in Bridgton, and don’t be like the fellow I saw the other day, a Bay Stater judging by his plates, waiting on a side road unable to proceed onto Portland Road because of the passing 4th of July Parade.  For wouldn’t you know it, there he was in such a rush just a ranting and a raving away inside at some poor soul of a passenger because he’s upset he can’t turn the way he wants to, to get wherever he’s going in such a hurry, and is instead forced to witness the passing glory of one of the finest village parades ever seen this side of the White Mountains. All he had to do was take it in, to sit back, take a breath, kick up his feet and enjoy it; to see it not as an inconvenience but rather as feature to be enjoyed and, who knows, he might have had a decent 4th of July. But he did not appreciate what he saw, and instead darted out and turned left against the parade at the instant the antique auto procession, naturally pulling away from the walking flagbearers, provided a brief break in the parade’s continuity of march.  We spectators all shouted at him not to go, but in his impatience he did anyway with a curse and some very ungentlemanly gestures, all to get himself pulled over by Bridgton PD within 30 yards. I ask you, what was his plan? Where was he going? I don’t know. I don’t think he knew; only that he wanted to go and couldn’t, and that made him mad when it shouldn’t have.  What a thing to be mad at, a parade? A parade in the town you’ve come here to visit, presumably to enjoy, and furthermore one celebrating the birth of your nation?  Even in a rush, I’d expect patriotism from a son of Massachusetts, if not courtesy, or at least I’d hope for it.  But I do know that his blind rush cost him, both the enjoyment of an otherwise free and beautiful spectacle, and like as not a decent traffic ticket, as well. If he learned I can’t say, but possibly others can by his example. So, let’s not be like him. After all, life’s too short, even in Maine.

Till next time!