EDITORIAL

A celebration of history and community

Posted 6/16/15

For 50 years, Gaspee Days festivities have brought the community together to celebrate our shared heritage and early role in the American Revolution.

This is a not-to-be-missed tradition for …

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EDITORIAL

A celebration of history and community

Posted

For 50 years, Gaspee Days festivities have brought the community together to celebrate our shared heritage and early role in the American Revolution.

This is a not-to-be-missed tradition for multiple generations of families, where our history comes alive each year as summer nears. Linking our past to the present, the commemoration connects us to those souls who helped shape our country’s future.

A 50-year existence in the organizational life cycle of any non-profit is extraordinary. Such dedication by a mature organization requires core activities that are recognized in the community, a continuously updated long-range plan, modifications to existing programs, successful fundraising, and a large, diverse and specialized committee and executive to prevent stagnation and decline.

Since its inception in September 1965, when a group of civic-minded citizens, businesses and patriotic groups convened at the former Carder Tavern in Pawtuxet to construct the Gaspee Days Committee, dedicated volunteers have been an integral part in making each event successful. While the first Gaspee Days celebration cost about $7,000 to put on, that figure now stretches into the tens of thousands.

Those volunteer efforts, and contributions from partnering entities such as the Pawtuxet Rangers and Warwick Symphony Orchestra, pay off dividends for the entire city as visitors from across the state and beyond flock to the area to celebrate, be entertained, shop, eat, sightsee and, most importantly, spend.

There are many familiar faces that serve on the Gaspee Days Committee, ones that continue to work year after year to ensure the event goes off without a hitch. We live in an age when technology can take a critique or compliment worldwide with a click of a button, and while both types of feedback were made public this year through social media, there were far more positives listed from this grateful community.

We’d like to thank those organizers whose efforts made this year’s golden celebration one to remember and encourage others in the community to offer their services and suggestions that will continue to enhance the event. Such involvement will ensure that Gaspee Days will continue to delight for another 50 years.

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