4th of July Recap!

Despite the hurricane threats – thunderstorms and downpours, mother nature was on our side for the few hours of the  Manchester by-the-Sea, 4th of July Parade.  Growing up in Manchester, one of the highlights of the year was the 4th of July Parade. Some years its was packed, other years it was pretty empty – that was the fun of it!  You really just never knew what the turnout would be.  There were a few things for sure that have remained constant since I can remember… The fire trucks, emergency vehicles, antique cars and bikes and the various floats were always a hit.  Individual entries vary from year to year, from little league champs to businesses, but one thing is consistent – It’s a whole bunch of fun!  Families gather at friends houses for beverages and snacks along the route. Kids sit patiently on the side of the curbs while each float passes by hoping they may be lucky enough to catch some candy.  Toddlers cover their ears as they watch the Firetrucks pass with blaring sirens.  The little leagues have an ongoing battle of water fights with various friends along the parade route.  The little moments that begin the 4th of July with such joy and so many happy memories.

I was so grateful to share in this excitement again this year.  We made a few adjustments and exchanged some of the images from our previous display in years past, but overall kept our display very much the same.  We heard from so many people how much they loved it, why change what isn’t broken! Updating our images was a nice way to share some more recent work although its so SO difficult to decide on what images to use.  We have so many amazing clients and such gorgeous families and seniors, it makes the narrowing down so difficult! Lucky for us we use many different images on all kinds of marketing!

We had an amazing crew again this year and we couldn’t have made it without their help! My amazing cousin Melissa, her boyfriend Steve, my beautiful friends Wendy, Julia, Anika, Samantha and Emily.   Thank you all so much for all your help, your support and your time! We always have a great time during the parade, but we truly couldn’t have done it without you!

Just like last year, I couldn’t have done it without such awesome vendors.  Julie at Shirts Unlimited  in Salem, MA  as always designed and printed our shirts with amazing customer service and guidance.  Lori from Footprint Signs located in Essex, MA absolutely rocked it out for me at such a last minute demand of the my new logo banners!  Thank you to our good friends Pete and Matt from Macaro Construction for letting us use the truck and trailer!

Last but certainly not least, I want to say a very important thank you to Dave for supporting my crazy idea again.  I absolutely could not have done it without you and all your help.  I am so lucky not only to have someone believe in this business as much as I do, but also who puts in just as much effort as I do to make it a success.  Thank you for your design help and all the time it took to actually build this with your crew, lay it out, listen to me change my mind, and try to talk me off the ledge when it was supposed to rain and all the craziness in between. I am so grateful to share this journey with you.

To all of you who we may have seen on the parade route – – Thank you for all your encouragement and kind words!  It was wonderful to see so many faces and I can’t wait to meet some of your new faces soon!

Much Love,
Keri