Did You Know? (Horribles Parade)

 

That the Ancient and Horribles Parade was founded in 1927 in Glocester, RI (not Gloucester, MA) and named as a parody of the more somber Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts, the oldest military organization in the United States? Calvin Coolidge, U.S. President when the parade was founded in 1927, was a member of the original Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company.  The Parade features both traditional Fourth of July floats and marchers, such as veterans and fire trucks, as well as often irreverent, satirical displays commenting on political and cultural issues, as local residents and costumed marchers parody news and cultural events along US Route 44 in Chepachet village.  Nothing is sacred as Glocester locals spoof local and national politics during the famous Ancients and Horribles Parade on the Fourth of July. The parade first wound its way down Main Street in Chepachet in 1926 and has continued to delight Glocester residents (and many others) each and every year since. 

This year is the 66^th Annual Fishtown Horribles Parade in Gloucester, MA, so the parade started here in 1945, 19 years after Glocester, RI had its first Ancient and Horribles Parade in 1926.

E.J. Lefavour

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