Gaspee Days come again: 58 years and still going strong.
Posted 5/31/23
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NEWS
Gaspee Days come again: 58 years and still going strong.
MARCHING STRONG: The Pawtuxet Rangers, one of the oldest chartered military militias in the country, march to celebrate the Gaspee Days festival. With the celebration going on all the way through June 11, those attending can still look forward to a host of wonderful attractions. June 3 will bring the Warwick Symphony Orchestra to Pawtuxet Park at 5:30 p.m. to entertain crowds with music and then fireworks will light up Salter’s Grove, Warwick, starting at 9:30 p.m. The final weekend of Gaspee takes place over Saturday June 10 and Sunday June 11. Events will include Ecumenical Services from Trinity Episcopal Church and a Gaspee Days 5K race on Saturday before the annual Gaspee Days Parade, which begins at 10 a.m. and travels the lenght of Narragansett Parway in Warwick. Sunday will bring the Blessing of the Fleet at Rhode Island Yacht Club at 11 a.m., several events in Pawtuxet park, such as Sunday in the Park with live music and food at noon, a raffle drawing at 3 p.m. and the traditional Burning of the Gaspee at 4 p.m. (Photo by Steve Popiel)
CHARTING A BUSINESS: William MacGregor, who calls himself a nautical chart artist, uses charts for the canvases of many of his paintings. Appropriately, this one of the burning of the HMS Gaspee in 1772 is painted on a chart of the shoal where colonials set her ablaze. MacGregor formerly lived outside Boston that trumpets the Boston Tea Party as the first act of insurrection. “But,” says MacGregor, “we moved down here and heard the truth.”
PREVIEW: Rhode Island Mermaid Alyssa was accompanied by her daughter Autumn to promote her upcoming performances in a 2,400 gallon tank that can be set up at event venues. Alyssa caught the attention of festival visitors who asked to be photographed with her. Predictably, her business is named The Rhode Island Mermaid. (Cranston Herald photos)
A GARDEN FOR A GARDEN: Above Debbie Franklin could pass up a miniature garden with solar lighting, the work of Sandy Raleigh of Chepchet. Sandy and her husband have been crafting the displays for the past ten years. They do about 15 shows a year. Remarkably, their business did not take a hit during the pandemic as they sold on the internet.
ALWAYS POPULAR: At right Toni Andersen of Warwick barely paused from the moment the Gaspee Days Arts and Crafts officially opened Saturday morning. Her face paintings delighted kids of all ages including Violet who is pictured here. As typically the case, parents ask how they wash faces clean and kids protest when they learn they won’t last.
THEY COULD BEARLY RESIST: Children , for that matter no one, could miss the polar bear slide that dominated Pawtuxet Village Park during the arts and crafts festival
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