ANOTHER GREAT PARADE HIGHLIGHTS THE TOWN’S HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE
I love the Bunker Hill Day Parade. Never miss it if I can help it. Doesn›t matter the weather but I do believe it is always even better when the weather cooperates as it did this past Sunday. A perfect day to celebrate the Battle of Bunker Hill and all Townies past and present.
I have watched this parade more times than I wish to admit. I loved it just as much this year at 70 years old as I did watching it with my family back in City Square near the free Hoodsies when I was only seven years old.
I started marching about 35 or so years ago. This year I marched with City Councilor Ayanna Pressley whom I have been with since her first trip to the ballot back in 2009.
There›s always much passion in Charlestown. Politics is a blood sport here but it rarely gets too bloody since most of the players every so often end up on the same side. This year many of my friends are with the incumbent and I am with the challenger. Charlestown loves doing Politics 101 but we don’t get upset with each other. Everyone just pushes along one election campaign after another.
I must say the crowds that line this parade are the best. The are energy suppliers to those marching and for me it is like an annual reunion with many old friends from my younger days on Pearl Street when I was still a young guy going to Boston State College,
Thank you one and all for the great reception you gave Ayanna as she marched in the parade this year. We all were feeling the energy of the day.
Myself, I was having such a great time I was ready to march the parade all over again. However, my legs both told me, «Enough is Enough.”
On the way back to my car in Thompson Square at 7-Eleven, I stopped by the Cambridge Savings Bank table and tried my luck at spinning the wheel for a prize. I ended wining a blue lunch bag. My lucky day, a great parade experience and a free bag. By the way, thank you to my pals at 7-Eleven for my parking spot. They always come through for me.
This coming Sunday, June 17, the officially Bunker Hill Day ceremonies will be held up at the Monument. If you can get to it, do it. Remember Bunker Hill Day is about a battle that started the American Revolution. Remember our history. Townies are always proud of the community›s past.
On Friday, June 8, I made it down to the Knights on Medford Street for the annual Chief Marshal’s Banquet. This year’s chief marshal was a longtime friend Jack Tkachuk, aka Chuck The Chuk. I found out he was a 1965 Boston English graduate, I was a 1966 graduate. I didn’t know him back then but over the years I often saw him in the North End at the firehouse where there was always a St. Louis Blues jersey hanging for all to see.