To the editor:

Bristol is a town that understands the importance of history, tradition, and community service. That is why the current discussion about the future use of Town Hall should include not only the organizations that preserve our history, but also the volunteer organizations that continue to create it.

The Bristol Fourth of July celebration traces its origins to 1785 and is recognized as the oldest continuous Independence Day celebration in the United States. Yet the organization responsible for carrying that extraordinary tradition forward still does not have an adequate permanent home.

The Fourth of July Committee currently has space at Byfield School for storage and memorabilia, but that space is not ADA-compliant and cannot properly serve as a regular meeting location. That means an organization responsible for one of Bristol’s most visible and historically significant traditions has no permanent, accessible place to meet, conduct its business, preserve its records, and prepare for the enormous undertaking that occurs every year.

The Christmas Festival Committee faces a similar challenge. These volunteer organizations help create the traditions that define Bristol, yet they lack an appropriate, permanent and accessible civic home.
This is about much more than finding a meeting room.

Each year, Bristol’s Fourth of July celebration brings enormous numbers of visitors into our community. Those visitors eat in our restaurants, shop in our stores, purchase goods and services, attend events, and introduce new generations to Bristol. The celebration generates substantial economic activity while providing our town with national recognition that communities many times our size would be fortunate to have.

Behind the parade, concerts, fireworks, patriotic exercises and countless related events are months of work performed by volunteers. There are also records, photographs, memorabilia, equipment, and generations of institutional history that deserve to be preserved properly.
The Bristol Historical and Preservation Society has expressed a legitimate need for additional space, and its mission is unquestionably important to our community. But preservation should not become a competition among Bristol’s civic institutions.

If the Town is considering dedicating public property to the long-term use of community organizations, then the Fourth of July Committee, the Christmas Festival Committee, and our veterans’ organizations should be part of that conversation.

Perhaps the answer is shared space: a permanent civic home where these organizations can maintain offices or storage, preserve their collections, and most importantly, have accessible meeting space. Such a facility could become a true home for the organizations and volunteers who sustain Bristol’s civic traditions year after year.
What should not be acceptable is continuing indefinitely without a solution.

For more than two centuries, generations of Bristol volunteers have carried these traditions forward. They have done so not for themselves, but for Bristol.

As the Town considers the future of its public buildings, it should consider not only the organizations that document Bristol’s history, but also the organizations that continue to create it.

Charles MacDonough
Bristol Fourth of July Committee General Chairman 2022/2023