The village of Moscow, within Stowe, offers a procession at the same hour that’s even simpler: Participants can’t start creating floats until Independence Day or spend more than $10.
But some local holiday spirit is set to hit the big time. Stand along Brattleboro’s Main Street on Tuesday, for example, and you’ll see the stars of the Discovery Channel’s “Road Trip Masters” filming the crowd from a 1968 gold Cadillac De Ville convertible while, on the sidewalk, members of a Japanese television crew making a documentary point cameras right back.
The state capital of Montpelier, for its part, is supplementing its annual July 3 parade with a contest in which spectators, voting on smartphones, can award participants $1,000 prizes.
Most Vermont marches remain uniquely unplugged. Bristol’s self-billed “oldest continuously run” parade is set to follow a “Great Outhouse Race.” Saxtons River’s event will mark the local Fire Department’s 80th anniversary and its need for a new station. Warren’s 69th annual “wild, wacky, and wickedly fun” cavalcade will spill with political satire (although U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., declined an invitation to visit the town that shares her name).
“I thought instead of just watching it, they’d want to be in it,” says Jen Austin, coordinator of the Downtown Brattleboro Alliance. “They’ll get the inside view.”
A Japanese crew, for its part, decided to capture the holiday for a documentary on the late Windham County illustrator Tasha Tudor, whose nearby Marlboro home continues to draw tourists.
“In her books, she mentions the fireworks and festivities,” Kaz Hasegawa says, “so we want to incorporate those into our program.”
As for Montpelier, organizers of Monday’s parade are offering two $1,000 prizes in hopes of generating more participation both in the streets and on the sidewalks.
“Our committee started talking about how creative this community is,” says Ashley Witzenberger, executive director of the nonprofit group Montpelier Alive, “and we came up with this to get people’s attention.”
The local Union Mutual insurance company is funding a “Best Performance Award” for anyone from clowns and cyclists to musicians and magicians, as well as a “Best Green Float/Entry Award.”
“We are looking for entries that use reclaimed and repurposed discarded items,” rules state, “and/or items that can be recycled after (the) parade and/or move through the parade using an electric vehicle, animals or people power.”
Spectators will be able to vote for their favorites online during the event.
“We wanted people to feel it was worth going all out,” Witzenberger says of an event that has drawn 80 entries, “and it’s working out really well.”