The noisy chaos of Bangor’s annual Fourth of July parade was once a time to be proud for longtime friends Joyce White and Virginia Mattson-Tracy, but now, it’s an opportunity to remember their late husbands.
White’s husband, who died two years ago, was a U.S. Air Force veteran, and Mattson-Tracy’s husband served in World War II and fought in the Battle of the Bulge.
The pair met about 45 to 50 years ago at the Hermon Baptist Church and have been coming to the parade together for as long as they can remember. They once attended the parade together to watch their husbands march alongside the other veterans.
Thousands of people turned out to watch the 2024 Fourth of July parade on Thursday. Credit: Linda Coan O’Kresik / BDN
White and Mattson-Tracy were among the thousands of people, stretching from Brewer to Bangor who gathered to watch the area’s Fourth of July parade on Thursday.
Though their husbands are no longer with them, White, 90, and Mattson-Tracy, 93, still set up lawn chairs on the corner of Main and Union streets in Bangor to watch the event together. Mattson-Tracy does so holding tightly to her husband’s wedding ring, which she wears on a chain around her neck.
In the last parade he participated in before his death, White said her husband found her in the crowd as he marched past and broke away from the procession to kiss her.
“I have that memory every year when I come to the parade,” White said. “I still come to the parade to represent and remember him.”
Sixty individuals or groups registered to march in the parade this year, five more than last year. The wide range of participants included local first responders, veterans, music groups and politicians.
The Fourth of July parade makes its way across the Joshua Chamberlain Bridge toward Bangor on Thursday. Credit: Linda Coan O’Kresik / BDN
Overcast skies in the morning cleared just in time for the parade to begin at 10 a.m. in Brewer, immediately following the 43rd annual Walter Hunt Fourth of July 3K Road Race.
The event began on Acme Road in Brewer, traveled across the Joshua Chamberlain bridge and turned down Main Street in Bangor before eventually ending on Exchange Street.
