Well, this year’s Fourth of July Celebration was pretty much a total wash out! But the Fourth of July Committee has already begun planning for the Fourth of July 2015, and we want to make next year’s celebration a great one, in keeping with Andover’s finest tradition.

First of all, for those groups who started building their floats for entry in the 2014 parade … don’t throw anything away if you still have parts of your float out in your barn or garage. In order for groups to use whatever they had assembled or fabricated for their 2014 parade float, we have decided that the parade theme for 2015 will be the same as this year’s theme: “Summer Time.” So if you still have any parts of your 2014 float, you will be able to use them for the 2015 parade.

The Committee has given very serious thought to having a rain date for the parade starting next year, but the practical difficulties with re-scheduling the parade due to rain are so monumental that we have decided to continue with the policy, which the Fourth of July Committee has had for decades, which is no rain date re-schedule for the parade.

However, the Committee is working on a rain date proposal for most of the other activities of the celebration.

If anyone has a way to overcome the logistical difficulties associated with a parade rain date re-schedule, they are certainly welcome to come to a Fourth of July Committee meeting to present their ideas for the Committee to consider. Our next two meetings are Wednesday, October 1, and a date yet to be set for January 2015. The Committee meets at the Andover Fire House meeting room at 7 PM.

Speaking of the parade, the Committee is going to break up the parade organization responsibilities from just one person doing all the work to a different set-up in which we have several people sharing the work load by taking on different tasks for organizing the parade. We are actively looking to recruit several people to take on these various organizational assignments, so if you are interested in helping organize the parade, please come to the October 1 Committee meeting. We would welcome the help!

The Committee also got feedback from a few folks about the fireworks this year. The feedback was critical of the ground fireworks display and also the low-altitude fireworks.

So starting next year we are going to put a provision into the fireworks contract that all of the fireworks rockets shall be “high-altitude exploders” so that everyone can see them. There may be a slight increase in the cost of the fireworks contract, but the Committee feels it will be worth the cost increase.

That’s about it at this very early point in the planning for Andover’s 2015 Fourth of July Celebration, but the Fourth of July Committee is doubly committed to have an even better Fourth of July Celebration for next year! And anyone who would like to help out in organizing this major event is welcome to pitch in.