Mosquito Editorial on Old Home Day

Friday, January 20, 2006
Opinions

Why move Old Home Day?

by Betsy Fell

When is the best time to hold Old Home Day (OHD)? Last year the town celebration was moved from July 4 to the end of June, in part to take advantage of the cheaper cost of fireworks purchased in honor of the town's bicentennial. Now the OHD organizing committee is seeking input from Carlisle residents about whether or not to move OHD back to July 4. The main disadvantage in moving OHD from July 4 is that Carlisle would have to either abandon or reinvent a way to honor Independence Day.

According to Ruth Wilkins' Carlisle: Its History and Heritage, the first OHD was held July 31, 1912, and the next four were held in August or early September. After the early years, OHD was held only a couple of times until it was reinstated in 1967. Wilkins wrote in 1976 (p. 446), "and now Old Home Day has become Carlisle's way of annually celebrating the Fourth of July." During the decades that my family has lived in Carlisle, OHD has been the wonderful way our small community celebrates both town and country.

I like OHD on July 4, but maybe there are advantages to a new date. I can think of three possible reasons to move it that involve vacations, fireworks, and politics. First, it would be more convenient for those people who usually miss the event because they are away on vacation July 4. This would be true for any date during the school break. Second, if townspeople ever wanted to have fireworks again, July 4 is the most expensive day to hire pyrotechnicians.

A third possible reason to move OHD is to avoid political expression. In 2004 the Democratic Town Committee created a tempest when they wanted a float in the parade and a booth in the Country Fair. (See "Old Home Day controversy is over — for now," July 2, 2004.) The OHD Committee denied their request, and the chair, Dave Reed, said at the time, "Old Home Day is for Carlisle, and when you bring in national issues, especially partisan issues, it just doesn't fit." It is not clear why the OHD organizers are not part of the town's Celebrations Committee, but Reed believes it might jeopardize the organization's 501(c)4 nonprofit charter if politics were allowed.

Political expression has been successfully included in the past. Massachusetts politicians Mike Dukakis and Marty Meehan have both attended the event, and the first issue of the Mosquito, August 2, 1972, noted on page 1: "That handsome fellow walking behind the Republican Town Committee's pink elephant in the Old Home Day parade was Paul Cronin, Republican candidate for the congressional seat vacated by Brad Morse."

However, if the majority of townspeople would prefer to prohibit political expression, then moving it away from July 4 would be appropriate. It seems harder to justify excluding people when OHD is on Independence Day — a decidedly political occasion. But is it such a bad thing to have elephants and donkeys in the parade, or a couple of booths offering partisan literature?

If the answer is yes, what do we then do about Independence Day? Last year Carlisle did nothing. Isn't it worth celebrating anymore? Whatever is decided by the town, coordination between the Selectmen, OHD and the Celebrations Committees is important. The OHD Committee works very hard for months to organize and run a great event, but may not want to pitch in to run a separate July 4 celebration. The town's Celebrations Committee would probably need a larger budget to tackle the job. If OHD is separate but close to July 4, will there be enough volunteer energy to organize two town-wide parties? Would the Fire Department want to sell chicken barbeque twice in one month? Perhaps the list of events might be split, so that some remain on July 4.

I am grateful that the OHD Committee is asking for citizen input before they set the date for this year. Would you prefer one large celebration on July 4, a different date, or two smaller events? To share your ideas with the OHD Committee, fill out their on-line survey at: