Celebrating a local July 4

Sam Smith – Once more, on Monday, our Maine town celebrated its independence with a parade. At a time when I was meant to be honoring our huge nation I found myself engaged instead in my love for a place of only 8,000 souls. This didn’t reflect disinterest in the national event but rather choosing something that was, given everything happening at the national level, far more comforting. It’s hard to find the best of America on the evening news; far easier to do so in my own ‘hood.

In our town, for example, the police are more a part of our community than just at the end of 911 calls. Our previous chief, in fact, played soprano sax alongside other women musicians in town. The current chief, Nate Goodman, joined the department some 24 years ago and recently described his job this way:

“I don’t view our officers and our staff here to be any different than the citizens we serve. So, we encourage the officers to spend time with community groups, interacting with just a wide cross-section of the community to try to bridge any gaps that may be there, or listen to people’s concerns about police and what we do.”

Meanwhile, our fire department pays its staff by the call and has a training program for 14 to 18 year olds.

Cop cars and the fire engines led the parade, but were soon followed by our representative in the state legislature, a bunch of local Republicans followed by a bunch of local Democrats, all accompanied by adults tossing candy to children sitting and standing on the sidewalk. On the second floor deck of a local restaurant one of the town’s best known citizens narrated the event over a speaker, accompanied by the national anthem sung by a woman who was once the receptionist for the town’s then favorite automotive shop. The parade was wound down by .a fellow leading a couple of ponies and another police car with a waving driver.

I picked up my folding chair went back home, feeling like a real American again, and realizing that the answers to our problems may be much closer than we think.