Grab an American flag to wave and head to Ivoryton for the village’s 4th of July parade, scheduled for Sunday, July 4 at 10 a.m. Canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, parade organizers have been planning the parade for several months.

“We’ve actually been working on this for a while,” said Chris Shane, president of the Ivoryton Alliance. “We didn’t know whether the state would allow it, but we thought it was important to get it going again and let people know that we’re back.”

Shane is inviting all members of the community, from kids on bikes decorated in red, white, and blue to civic groups, businesses, or non-profits to partake in the festivities by marching or driving a float.

Without a Memorial Day parade this year, “this is the first parade that the town is doing this year, so hopefully that will be an incentive to get people out,” said Shane.

A new addition to the parade is the participation of the Comstock Fife and Drum Corps, formed in 2019 by Michele Auger and her husband Bryan Gibbons.

“One of the things that is exciting, believe it or not, is Ivoryton has its own fife and drum corps now,” said Shane. “They’ll be leading the parade, which is a first for us.

“They are looking for members, so if anyone is looking to start playing for a fife and drum corps, this is a perfect opportunity,” he adds.

Auger and Gibbons, who both participated in the Deep River Fife and Drum Corps in their youth, decided to re-start a fife and drum corps in Ivoryton to add musical vitality to town functions.

“Primarily, we just wanted to start it here for Ivoryton,” said Auger. “So, Ivoryton has the fife and drum crops again for Memorial Day, for town functions, 4th of July parade, the Christmas tree lighting.”

Auger said that adding more members, “would be a great step to getting a corps back up and going, and possibly being able to be big enough to do the bigger parades and the musters, stuff like that,” said Auger.

The Comstock Fife and Drum Corps will assemble at 9:30 a.m. on July 4, along with marchers and bicycles, at the bottom of Walnut Street, near the Mill Race Preserve. All vehicles including fire trucks and antique cars will assemble on Cheney Street in Ivoryton.

The parade will step off at 10 a.m., heading east to the Ivoryton Green, 103 Main Street, with an estimated arrival time of 11 a.m. An Independence Day ceremony will take place at the gazebo, with patriotic music performed by the Community Music School’s New Horizons Band.

“The band loves playing for the parade,” said Band Director Patricia Hurley. “We wear our official band shirts plus festive hats and love playing the patriotic music that everyone loves. We have enjoyed working with the committee to put together a program that is both solemn and upbeat.”

The Ivoryton Gardeners will serve as grand marshals for this year’s parade. The members of this group have beautified the Ivoryton Green for the past 40 years, doing most of the landscaping, planting and weeding at the green and for several Ivoryton traffic islands.

“There are six wonderful women who have been weeding the green and downtown Ivoryton for years,” said Shane. “We thought it was about time they got some recognition.”

The parade is sponsored by the Ivoryton 4th of July Committee, Ivoryton Alliance, and Essex Park & Recreation Department. More information on the parade is available online on the Ivoryton Village Alliance’s Facebook page.

For more information on the Comstock Fife and Drum corps, email Michele Auger at mgometz70@gmail.com.