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Montpelier's Independence Day Celebration

Please check this website again as the program is still under development and more items will be added to the website as the details are finalized.

Schedule
Event Descriptions
Volunteer
Vendors
Parade
Shuttle Service
Street Closures, Parking Restrictions, Detours, Accesibile Parking
Sponsors

Join us at Green Drinks on May 14

Montpelier’s big Independence Day Celebration on July 3 is moving toward becoming a zero-waste event! Through partnerships with Central Vermont Solid Waste Management District and GMTA, festival organizer Montpelier Alive will be offering compost/recycling stations and free-shuttle service this year. Grab a free micro-brewed pint and learn more about how you can participate—or just share your strategies for reducing waste at the Independence Day Celebration. For more information, visit our Facebook page.

Green Drinks is ALWAYS the second Tuesday of the month from 6 – 8pm in City Center – First 30 pints cost you nothing!

SCHEDULE OVERVIEW

Around Town:

10 AM-6 PM	Explore Vermont History, Free Museum Day at the Vermont Historical Society
10:30 AM	Special Independence Day Story Time, Kellogg Hubbard Library
1-4 PM	Patriotic Craft Activity in the Vermont History Museum Snelling Room
1-3:30 PM	Film: “Born on the 4th of July” (1989), Senior Activity Center
1:30-4 PM	Family Fun Day, Montpelier Rec Department Pool
6 PM	Montpelier Mile Road Race (link to registration)
6-7 PM	Parade
7-10:45 PM	Julio’s Dance Party, lot next to Julio's Cantina

State House Lawn:

3-5:30 PM	Kids Zone (bubbles, parachute, live entertainment and more!)
3-4 PM	Christopher R and his Flying Purple Guitar (Kid's Zone)
3-5:30 PM	Community hula hooping with Carol Becker
4-5 PM	Stephen Gratto, juggler extraordinaire (Kid's Zone)
4PM	Singing of the National Anthem: Linda Radtke (State House steps)
4-4:50 PM	Capital City Band (State House steps)
4:50-5:15 PM	Seth Warner Band (State House steps)
5:15-6:15 PM	Green Mountain Youth Symphony (State House steps)
~7-8:15 PM	Aurora Nealand and the Royal Roses (State House steps)
8-9 PM	Stephen Gratto stilt walking
8:30-9:30 PM	Bow Thayer & Perfect Trainwreck
9:30 PM	Fireworks

All events will happen rain or shine!

EVENT DESCRIPTIONS

Around Town Events:
The Kellogg-Hubbard Library will celebrate Independence Day on July 3rd with an all-ages Storytime presented by Montpelier's own Professor Ben t. Matchstick of the Cardboard Teck Instantute. Join us for summertime storybooks, Japanese kamishibai, our puppet friend Jack, a one-man band, clowning gags, and a big jump around finale! Come enjoy the library lawn for this special Storytime unlike any other!

Family Fun Day at the Montpelier Pool is a project of the Montpelier Recreation Department.

State House Program Areas:
Democracy Tent: The Vermont League of Women Voters is hosting the Democracy Tent. The tent will be open throughout the day to register voters. Located in front of the Supreme Court

Zero-Waste: Ben Franklin said waste nothing, and we agree.
This year the Montpelier Independence Day is moving towards becoming a zero-waste event in partnership with Central Vermont Solid Waste Management District. Why is this important? Because 20,000 people come to Montpelier to celebrate independence day every year; they eat food from disposable containers, drink water and lemonade from disposable cups, and fill the landfill with recyclables ,compost and trash. We will be offering festival goers the option to use our Zero Waste Stations to sort recyclables, compost and trash in order to keep Montpelier's streets clean, reduce the amount of resources that go into the landfill, and divert food scraps back into the soil by turning them into compost!

Information Booth: Find schedule information, Lost and Found and more! Located across the street from the Chittenden Bank building.

Dunking Booth will be set up near the Supreme Court.

Kid’s Zone: Special Kid’s Activities and Performances from 3-5:30pm. Look on the far left (ie west) side of the State House lawn. Needs to run off some extra energy? Come visit our Kids Zone! Play with a large parachute, blow monster bubbles, crawl through a tunnel and more. Favorites from past Independence Day celebrations—the Bouncy House and face painting—will also be located in the area on the left side of the lawn. Kids Zone is a project of the Washington County Family Center and Montpelier Alive.

State House Steps Main Stage: Live musical performances from 4-9:30pm with a break during the parade.

Port-o-lets: The main banks of port-o-lets will be located on driveways on either side of the DMV building. Additional port-o-lets will be on State St just past the Gov. Aiken Ave intersection, and in front of the Chittenden Bank. Handicapped accessible port-o-lets will be available on State St and either side of the DMV.

Vermont History Museum will be open and free to the public on July 3 from 10-6pm. In addition to their regular exhibits, there will be a special patriotic craft project in the afternoon. The museum's core exhibit, Freedom and Unity: One Ideal, Many Stories represents Vermont's history from 1600 to the present, fills 5,000 square feet in the Pavilion Building in Montpelier. Visitors walk through time and experience a full-sized Abenaki wigwam, a re-creation of the Catamount Tavern where Ethan Allen's Green Mountain Boys gathered, a railroad station complete with a working telegraph and a WWII living room furnished with period music and magazines.

State House Lawn Performances and Activities
Come listen, sing, jump, romp and shake to the crazy beats and sounds of Christopher R and His Flying Purple Guitar. Christopher performs children songs that rap, rock and roll. The audience can grab a shaker or microphone and literally get into the act. He’s a unique, funny one-man band that has entertained and delighted area children and adults for years."

Hula hooping is for everyone! Test out a hula hoop with hooping instructor Carol Becker of Fitness Hooping. She will have hoops available for use in many sizes.

Clara’s Games, a project of the Vermont Historical Society, invites the young (and young at heart) to participate in games enjoyed by generations of Vermonters. Twelve-year-old Clara Doty, of Tinmouth, Vermont, is the inspiration for Clara's Games. In 1888, she kept a diary recording the weather, her daily chores, and the games that she played. Some of the activities, like walking on stilts (we have expert instructors!)• hopscotch, checkers, beanbags, cup and ball, and dominoes, are still popular today. Others, such as Kitty Kitty Corner, Copenhagen, the dice and bowl game, and graces, may be less familiar but just as much fun.

Juggler, unicyclist, stilt walker, rope walker, balloon sculptor, and balancer, Stephen Gratto is a physical comedian and much much more. All performances are fast-paced and exciting displays of many classic vaudeville and circus skills including many feats of daring, bravery, and side-splitting foolishness. The high point of each performance is invariably the audience participation. Almost every portion of the Stephen Gratto Variety Show involves audience volunteers, both young and old. This continual interaction keeps everyone involved and laughing. Stephen is truly a jack of all trades and a master of many.

The Capital City Band is a volunteer organization that provides free musical entertainment on the Vermont Statehouse lawn every Wednesday evening during the summer. Young and “more seasoned” musicians play patriotic marches and popular music selections for the enjoyment of visitors and residents. The Capital City Band will be kicking off the performances on the State House steps Main Stage by accompanying singer Linda Radtke who will sing The Star Spangled Banner.

Named for famous Vermont Revolutionary War Colonel, Seth Warner Band plays traditional military marches. They will be performing in the parade, as well we on the State House lawn.

The mission of the Green Mountain Youth Symphony is to create a community of young musicians from throughout Central and Northern Vermont through the performance of great music. GMYS serves over 100 student musicians from more thirty towns throughout Vermont and New Hampshire. It is comprised of three separate orchestras for students of all skill levels, ages six to eighteen. GMYS also has two affiliated ensembles at the Upper Valley Music Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, where another 50 young musicians gather to make beautiful music. GMYS also holds a residential Summer Music Camp each summer for intermediate-advanced musicians.

The Royal Roses grew out of the rich resurgence that traditional jazz is seeing in New Orleans amongst the younger generation of musicians today. New Orleans. The Royal Roses draw their repertoire heavily from Sidney Bechet, Django Reinhart and traditional jazz of New Orleans. Comprised of some of the finest young players on the New Orleans music scene today, the Royal Roses are seeking to breath new energy, arrangements and compositions into this genre of music while exploring and learning from its rich history and tradition.. They‘ve performed in New Orleans at the JazzFest, French Quarter Festival, Satchmo festival and Preservation Hall, as well as in NYC at Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival. Their first album “A Tribute to Sydney Bechet: Live at Preservation Hall” was released in 2011 to national acclaim.

Bow Thayer aims to forge new sonic frontiers and Perfect Trainwreck (which one writer suggests "will become Vermont's third nationally acclaimed rock band") carries that vision to far off destinations. Having played with such music luminaries as Levon Helm, John Hiatt, Booker T, and Ringo Starr, the band has seen its fair share of travel across these United States of America and the World at large and plan to do more while supporting their records of facts, analogies and metaphors.

VOLUNTEER! Become part of the crew that makes it happen!

It takes many volunteers to be able to present this free, community celebration. If you are interested in volunteering, you can sign up electronically here.

For questions, contact our Volunteer Coordinator, Jessica Ball.

VENDORS

Vendor Application - CLICK HERE
Pinky and Loraine Clark are returning as our Vendor Coordinators and can be contacted at via email.

PARADE

Parade Guidelines - CLICK HERE
Parade Applications - CLICK HERE for PDF or to fill out the application electronically, CLICK HERE.

The Parade starts at the roundabout at Spring and Elm Streets. After traveling down Main St, the parade will turn on State Street. The parade ends at the intersection of State and Taylor Streets.

Christine Hartman is returning as our Parade Coordinator and can be contacted: parade@montpelieralive.org.

For general information about the 14th Annual Independence Day Celebration, July 3rd in Montpelier, contact:
Suzanne Eikenberry at: festivals@montpelieralive.org

Special Shuttle Service

Green Mountain Transit Agency (GMTA) provides a free shuttle open to the general public approximately every 15 minutes on July 3rd in Montpelier. Beginning at 4:00PM, until 11:00PM, the shuttle will transport to/from the National Life parking lot to the corner of Governor Davis Avenue and State Street.

All GMTA buses offer ADA Service and are equipped with wheelchair lifts and wheelchair tie-down spaces. GMTA and event organizers encourage individuals with special needs to take advantage of this free service for safe and easy access to the July 3rd celebration.

In addition to the shuttle provided between the hours of 4:00PM-11:00PM, the Montpelier Hospital Hill route will be automatically scheduled to deviate to National Life inbound to Montpelier at approximately 10min past the hour until the free shuttle service begins at 4:00PM. The MHH will go to National Life outbound by on-board request at 32min past the hour. Anyone at National Life at 32min past the hour may pay the fare and ride the MHH to the Mobile station at the corner of Northfield Street and Berlin Street. Please note that the bus will not return to the downtown area before going to the hospital hill area.

2013 SHUTTLE SCHEDULE:
4:00-11:00PM shuttle operating approximately every 15 minutes from:
1. National Life
2. State St./Governor Davis Avenue
3 City Hall from 5-8 pm in lieu of the State Street stop during the parade.

July 3 Celebration Street Closures and Parking Restrictions

State Street: Street closed between Governor Davis and Gov. Aiken Avenue from 1 PM - 10:30 PM for vendors and parade. Parking along this stretch closed from 11 AM - 10:30 PM. Parking along State Street from Main Street to Governor Davis Avenue closed from 5pm- end of the parade to accommodate parade viewing. State Street also closed from Taylor Street to NSB from the end of the parade until 11PM. Sign put up at State/Elm St intersection “Closed to through traffic; local business access only.”

Taylor St.: Street closed from State St to parking lot entrances from 6pm until 11pm. During parade, all of Taylor Street will be closed, including the section from the parking lot entrances to Memorial Drive.

Main Street: Street closed from roundabout to State Street from 6:00 PM until approximately 7:45 PM for the Montpelier Mile Road Race followed by the parade. Parking closed from 5pm-end of parade.

Court Street: Closed to through traffic (open to local traffic) from 6pm until close 11pm.

Govenor Aiken Avenue: Street closed from 5 P. M. until 11 PM. Parking closed from 11 AM on.

Streets in the Meadows area will be used as staging areas for the parade from 4:30 to 6:00 PM, with parking restrictions starting in the morning.

60 State Street Parking Lot: Lot will be closed from 2:00 PM to 1:00 AM for Julio’s street dance (including set-up and take-down time).

National Life Drive: Street closed at 9 PM (1/2 hour before the fireworks) at the entrance from Memorial Drive and at the entrance into National Life parking lot at the top of the hill. The main parking lot will be open for viewing the fireworks.

Parade Detours

No vehicles will be allowed on the parade route (Spring Street, Main Street from Spring to State Streets, and State Street from Main Street to Bailey Avenue) during the parade, approximately from 6 PM – 7:15 PM.

Upper Main Street: Vehicles will be routed onto College Street from Upper Main Street. From there, vehicles can get across town by taking Sibley Ave to Barre Street.

Memorial Drive/ Lower Main Street: Vehicles turning onto Main Street from Memorial Drive will be directed onto Barre Street, up Sibley Avenue to College Street in order to cross town.

Post-Fireworks Detours

Memorial Drive: All traffic exiting from Bailey Avenue or Taylor Street onto Memorial Drive will have to turn right towards the interstate. No vehicles will be allowed to turn onto Bailey Avenue or Taylor Street from Memorial Drive.

Handicapped Parking Spaces

The 4 parking space on School St closest to Main St are reserved as handicapped parking spaces from 5pm-end of the parade to accommodate handicapped parade-viewer.

The 3 parking spaces on State St just after Gov. Aiken Ave. are also reserved as handicapped parking from 3-11pm.

There are handicapped parking spaces behind the DMV which can be accessed by turning into the State parking lots from State St between Bailey Ave and Gov. Aiken Ave.

Access to Parking Lots

State Lots: The interconnected State parking lots behind DMV will all be accessible from the entrance just after the Gov. Aiken intersection. The two lots behind the Chittenden Bank (ie the State lot and the Chittenden lot) will be closed from 5pm until the end of the parade to accommodate parade participants dispersing (already approved by State of Vermont and Chittenden Bank).

Julio’s Lot: The parking lot next to Julio’s will be used for Julio’s dance party from 2pm-1pm (to be requested by Julio’s)

Capital Plaza& Christ Church Lots: The private parking lots belonging to Capital Plaza and Christ Church will be accessible throughout the event, except for the approximately one hour during the parade.

Montpelier Downtown Community Association