Just after midnight tonight I'll hear a fife and drum corps marching down Main Street to the green in Monument Square, where I live.
Only in Concord, Massachusetts might a parade pass by your home at midnight!
But it's Patriots Day weekend and tonight is the Patriots Ball, an affair that ends with the revelers marching from the armory to First Parish Church (across the street from my church and rectory) where the folks greet "Dr. Samuel Prescott" who arrives to announce that the Regulars (the British) are on the move.
Some claim the cry of the night was, "The Regulars are out!" while others favor, "The Regulars are coming!" But it seems none of the well-informed on this matter credit the good doctor with shouting the more familiar, "The British are coming!"
Michael Ryan tells the story here - not without its romantic element - and it's one worth reading if you want to get the story behind the story.
A fife and drum corps is hardly the stuff of a lullaby, but once they've marched away tonight I hope I'll be fast asleep and ready to rise early for Mass in the morning.
-ConcordPastor
Wilmington always has such a parade, Minutemen setting off for Concord. We've even had spectators show up holding balloons, too!
ReplyDeleteA great tradition.
My loving wife and I were married in Concord on this weekend 29 years ago and will never forget it. It was a special weekend for our entire wedding party and guest from both family's. I asked her to marry me on the Old North Bridge.
ReplyDelete...just wondering how was the parade last night? did you hear it, or were you already fast asleep?
ReplyDeleteWell, I called it a day long before I expected to hear the fifes and drums - but I never heard them! Not sure if I dozed through it or if it didn't happen. Heard that "Dr. Prescott" rode this morning at the Dawn Salute (that's another piece of Concord drama) and that his horse had a near miss although neither he nor the horse were injured. Will have to ask about to see what happened last night.
ReplyDeleteyou must be a sound sleeper !! I woke up this am at 630am to cannons.
ReplyDeleteI was up before the Dawn Salute at 6:15 and certainly heard the canon!
ReplyDeleteNot sure if there was a grand march last night from the Patriots'Ball at the Armory to First Parish - as there was last year.