1948 is the first 4th I remember well . I had just turned six and had gotten a red 24" red Schwin two wheel bike for my birthday. My friends Teddy Wolff, Dickie Greenleaf and I decorated our bikes with red, white and blue crepe paper streamers woven through the spokes and off the handlebars and American flags . We really felt patriotic riding up and down the street yelling Happy 4th of July ! I can't imagine kids today doing that those were the days!
My hometown was know for having one of the largest 4th of July Parades in the US ! The parade and fireworks were always the highlight of the summer! I remember as a kid some parades being as long as 2 1/2 to 3 hours long . As a little kid in the 1940's I remember tanks, troop carriers, and thousands of soldiers marching from all branches of the service, normally led by their respective bands.
Camp Kilmer was but 15 minutes from Plainfield. It was the largest military staging facility in the country that sent all soldiers overseas to WWII. At any given time then, there were tens of thousands soldiers there being processed to leave NYC for the war. During the war it processed over 2,500,000 men! So needless to say after the war they came back to Camp Kilmer and were always present marching in our parades.
The Mummers from Philadelphia were an ever present marching group with all their glitter, feathers and banjos! In the early to mid '50's Plainfield held the National Drum and Bugle Corp Competition with the finals always on July 3rd at the Plainfield High School Field just two blocks from my home. If I remember correctly there were usually about ten finalist corps competing ! What a wonderful sound that still echoes in my memory of those incredible groups. All ten would also appear in the parade the next day. Plainfield was the hub of commerce, retail and industry for many adjacent towns with a total population of almost 250,000. So all those towns would participate with floats, marching groups and bands. No wonder the parade was so long ! I remember hearing that over 150,000 people would line the streets to cheer on their favorites and applaud the service men!
The fireworks were always a fitting conclusion to a great two to three day event in Plainfield ! Thousands of people would flood into Greeenbrook Park in North Plainfield to witness this spectacular event . We would always take something to sit on cold drinks and, back then, plenty of camphophique to help keep the mosquitoes away! Back then there was NO mosquito repellent ! My parents had a friend that lived right at the entrance of the park so we never had a problem parking. After the fireworks we all meet on her front porch and sit and have lemonade and wait the thirty to forty five minutes crowds and traffic to leave. The end of a perfect 4th of July Celebration.
1964 I was out of college, living at home and was working as PR Director for the Plainfield Area Chamber of Commerce, My neighbor , Wink Diana, a local attorney was, at that time President of the Jaycees in Plainfield . Wink and his wife were having an cookout with my folks early in June that year ,and the topic of the parade came up . He said the Jaycees wanted to enter a float in the parade and were looking for someone to design the float. Well, I had just designed two for my fraternity for homecoming parades. I made a couple sketches for him and he took me to the meeting that next night , I was inducted as a member and then presented my ideas and sketches.
It turns out that the Jaycees tried to make a float the year before and failed. They even purchased an old car, cut the top off it and had welded I beam supports to the car to have it be a self contained unit driven within the float. My design was very simple a three step float self contained in red, white and blue . The first step red with children dressed in costumes of different countries representing our welcoming shores, the second step, white with an empty black rocking chair with the initials in gold, JFK, themPresident had been assonated the the November before. The top step blue with a live person dressed as the Statue of Liberty. Speakers were to be built into the sides of the float and the song, "Give Me Your Tired Your Poor!" playing the entire length of the parade. We set out the next evening to build the float! Two members had to walk in front of the float guiding the driver who was totally concealed under the structure . As the float passed by the thousands of people watching it got a standing ovation the entire length of the parade. That evening at the fireworks, now held at the North Plainfield High School Field our float won three First Place trophies, Best Overall, Most Patriotic & Most Beautiful !!! While a small group of us centered our attention. On the float the rest of the guys in the Jaycees manned the soda sale the entire length of the parade. For years past and at least until I moved from Plainfield the Jaycees were the only ones allowed to sell drinks on the parade route. Each year that soda sale funded the chapter for the entire year! The worst year I remember was one that rained and we netted $9, best being a hot sunny day and we netted over $17,000. This provided us the opportunity to truly serve the city of Plainfield and its residents!
As the years passed and I moved from Plainfield in 1979, the 4th celebrations have slowed down and never hit the heights that I knew in my beautiful hometown of Plainfield!
In 1990 I went to Europe for a month and happened to be in the incredible city off Prague on July 4th. I woke up that morning, remembering all the spectacular 4ths I had celebrated in Plainfield . It was kind of a downer to be out of the country and not celebrating our Independence Day. I was walking down a beautiful street with my large video camera on my shoulder recording the beauty of Prague ! I remember making a comment how I missed the celebrations in my hometown of Plainfield . Just at that moment I heard a lot of noise approaching me ! It kinda alarmed me and I ducked into a doorway still with my camcorder going. As the sounds got closer I could hear horns honking and voices but could not tell what they were yelling. A few seconds later I heard IT ! I stepped out of the doorway and videoed four US Army Jeeps full of soldiers all holding large American Flags. And yelling HAPPY 4TH OF JULY !!! I YELLED BACK TO THEM! Now, really, what could make for a better 4th of July 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸‼️‼️‼️‼️👏
Now, it is the summer of 75 ! No, not 1975, but the summer of my 75th year ‼️. Who knows how many 4th of Julys I have ahead of me, but one thing is for sure, I will always remember and treasure the ones I had in my hometown of Plainfield, NJ ‼️🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
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