hi everyone my name's linda parent and i'm the town clerk here in richmond and a longtime member of the fourth of july parade committee we have been working for months to get this activity going in the celebration is going to be great floats the parade will always be exciting will have lots of participation the st andrews pipe band is coming community band will be on a slow playing music and there will be float vehicles boyscout fault and cars in the car show and last person the horses this year are marching in memory of mr abbott lovett a longtime richmond resident who was always in the fourth of july parade with his beautiful horses carrying a big flag and everyone will miss him and this is to honor his memory after the parade is over down volunteers green lots of stuff will be going on they'll be food lewis from huntington is heading up the chicken barbecue again and the fire department will be providing hot dogs and hamburgers the parade and fireworks committee they sell the fried dough french fries and drinks and this year we had a major donation from pepsi cola thanks to my parent will have plenty of soda and will be offering water the land trust will be doing lemonade right next to the richmond congregational church booth with a handmade strawberry shortcake there will be free games on the green for children with some prizes in a flea market the flea market always has lots of exciting things you never really know what you're going to find there on the backside of the park will be having a car show and they'll start gathering first thing in the morning jim o'brien and tom may of o'brien's auto body is in charge of that and they have people coming from all over the state to show off their beautiful vehicles richmond rescue is going to have a hands on training of c p r with the kiosk and that certainly could be a real lifesaver so you should check that out find out what to do in emergency before the rescue squad gets there many many things start at one o'clock that seems to be our kickoff our the bingo will start at one and that's been sponsored by the bin can like range and the american flag raising will be done by the ritual fire department and the band will be spent the band will be playing at that time also at one o'clock the community band starts their concert in the band shell that's about an hour of beautiful music and the spelling bee will be at the library at one o'clock that's a change from previous years but marcia camp will still be our word master and you'll be in the air conditioned comfort of the library and again there will be prizes for the best spellers of all different ages one o'clock we also start the auction right there on the field down at volunteers green you're welcome to check out the auction items before auction and be able to spend your money on some wonderful things you never can tell what's going to be delivered there we are in need of auction items and if you have something you'd like picked up you can call dominique at at four three four three five three two but we do s that she don't give us any junk or toilets or closer to these because we have to pay to get rid of any trash and we do have a slogan for the auction and that if you wouldn't buy it we don't want it returning from last years there'll be music by the d j tony bissau into at the band show before the band concert and following the band concert super sounds will be on the field hopefully w and then at five thirty the a m p band which the drummer is our own road foreman pete dawson they'll be playing on the field and then followed at seven thirty by the gravel and brothers at nine thirty the fireworks are planned and we do have a rain date of the next night but we certainly hope we don't get rained out this year we have several bonser and i just like to tell you who they are and we like to give them credit for all that they do it's richmond home supply jamieson ish aren't green sea systems p and p septic waitsfield champlain valley telecom and richmond market beverage and we really couldn't put this event on without all of their support and then we get to the other people that do so much we want to thank mary cool she always handles the handicapped parking area at the front of volunteers green and park there you need to have your state placard cowan provide storage space for auction items and the boy scouts this year will be helping set up and tear down things at the park and we really appreciate that we like to think the richmond highway department who stores the fourth of july trailers for us and offer their garage for a set up and storage we think the richmond fire department who oversee the fire works because without them we wouldn't be having any and the richmond rescue for coverage in case of health concerns or any accidents a big thanks to the richmond police department for the total control of our safety and traffic on that big day there's much more traffic than you even get at business hour and a great big thank you to all the volunteers who give many hours to the celebration and make it the wonderful success that it is every year we do have a website and we think rod west for taking care of that you just have to google richmond vermont fourth of july and on there you'll find all kinds of information and a link to the facebook page and we have a telephone line where we do have some information and if you'd like to leave us a message that would be four three four six zero two four and if you like to volunteer please call me at the town office for three four two two two one we always need help setting up tents chairs tables taking care of trance and cleaning up the the grounds afterwards  sometimes we do need help making the food and we preach a anybody that would like to help us we hope everybody comes we have a beautiful sunny day and another exciting fourth in richmond