Chelmsford, MA 4th of July Parade - July 4th, 2018

[Agent 355]

Finally, after thinking about it for three years we entered an Appleseed float into the Chelmsford, MA 4th of July Parade! My family has been watching the parade since I was a child, and with approximately two-thousand attendees it seemed like the perfect place to get out the Appleseed name. With the blessing and support of both the MA and NH instructor corp, we designed four banners which were hung off our truck, and a trailer purchased especially for the event. We designed appleseedinfo.org business cards, and purchased 800 freeze pops to hand out. We also received two boxes of pens and decals from the RWVA.
   Despite the melting hot temps, Aim and Lupis42 + family from MA, and Louigi from NH came to help pass-out hand-outs. My brother (he's attended one shoot), and our two oldest kids (4 and 2) also came, riding in the trailer and handing out supplies. The freeze pops were the hit of the parade, and surprisingly, everyone wanted pens. We had many people ask us about Appleseed, and a brief description of what we do and who we are was read over the loudspeakers at the end of the parade.
   Overall, all the instructors who attended agreed it was a success, and we plan on doing it again next year, (with a lot more freeze pops). A lot of fun all around, and entirely worth the effort.

[Mrs. Smith]

 Beautiful! I'd have never thought of doing a float in a parade. Brilliant!