The Annual Essex 4th of July Parade

Essex 4th of July Parade: Farmer on Tractor (Credit: Jeff Moredock)

Pulling itself together in the shadow of St. Phillip
Wayne Bailey, a real trooper, calms the crowd
“It won’t be long, any minute now”
Entertains with comments on passers-by who catch his eye
And then when the crowd has worked itself into
A frenzy of frustration
The parade bursts into view
Ignores the blinking red light and fills the street
Convertibles piled high with politicians
Floats awash in good causes
A small armada of ancient tractors
Carry a small army of ancient farmers
Candy fills the air
Men in redface loose from a reservation in Reber
Run from side to side
Frighten young children
Leeringly lunge at middle-aged women
A bagpipe and drum band marches manfully by
Cats scream to get out of their bags
Drums resonate in chests
More candy flies through the air
A young man wobbles by on a unicycle
Smiling, straw hatted and juggling cucumbers
A vintage classic car goes by
Driven by a vintage classic driver
Yet another fire truck passes then
Deafens the crowd with its siren
The sheriff goes by
Waving from the back seat
Not his usual place
A Hazmat truck glides by quietly
And we briefly feel less safe
Even more candy rains from the sky
Giant water pistols try their best
But cannot dampen our enthusiasm
And then when we feel we
Cannot bear one more exciting minute
The parade ends
Many want it come again right away
As it did one year when being so short
It doubled back for a second run
But not this year
Church ladies still hawk strawberry shortcake
Firemen push hot dogs and
One good citizen sells balloons for
Yet another good cause
Then watches as their little owners
Lose their grip and see
Their purchases head far out of town
Children clutch bags of airborne
And street-bruised candy
A man from Willsboro claims to
Have been struck in the eye by a Tootsie-Roll
He gets smiles but no sympathy
Wayne Bailey, still a real trooper
Thanks a dozen volunteers and
We all head home
Grateful that our country has
Had another birthday.

Jeff Moredock, July 2011

[An edited version of this poem is included in Jeff’s poetry anthology, Poems from Essex & Elsewhere. Visit “The 4th of July Parade” by Jeff Moredock” to watch a video of Jeff reciting this poem.]

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About Jeff Moredock

Bred and buttered in Dry Tavern, PA, Jeff Moredock was, before he gainfully retired in 2004, a farmer, folksinger, minister, teacher, coach chaplain, headmaster, and a chief operating officer. Married to a saint, he and his wife, Etta, have two children and four grandchildren. They have been summer residents of Essex since 1980.

He first began writing poetry in 1979 when he was the head of North Country School in Lake Placid. In a fit of scotch-fueled frenzy he wrote a long narrative poem that included the names of the school’s 87 children, 25 teachers, 10 staff members, and countless community pets. Read aloud at the school’s annual Christmas dinner, it received sufficient praise to encourage him to continue the practice through his career as headmaster at three schools. More poetry followed, most often poetic testimonials for various friends’ birthdays, weddings, and retirements.

Poems about Essex started to bubble up about the turn of the century, and since then he has written more than a dozen, all noting and celebrating people, places, and events in and around Essex. He has published a collection of poems, Poems from Essex & Elsewhere and a collection of short stories, Nine Holes, Nine Lives: The Front Nine. He has also written an unpublished mystery novel, A Zebra in the Lake, set in Essex. Suffice to say, he loves words and he loves Essex.