The Fourth lands on a Saturday this year, and the city's leaning all the way in. Fifteen towns march down Main Street at 10, then everyone spills onto the South Green for food trucks and a set from Eight to the Bar. It's the 250th birthday of the whole experiment, so the bunting's earned. Here's your long weekend, between the river and Route 9.
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🎉 A 250th parade down Main Street, then food trucks on the Green
🥕 The Cromwell market kicks off Friday evening
🏊 The pool's open all weekend if the Fourth turns into a scorcher
Plus where to catch actual fireworks this year, below.
All Weekend Long
🏊 The pool at Veterans Memorial Park is open all weekend, Friday through Sunday from 11 to 7. Free, and the easiest cool-off in town if the Fourth turns hot.
Friday
🥕 Cromwell Farmers Market
Back at Riverport Park with food trucks, live music, and the usual crowd of vendors. A good warm-up to the long weekend.
Riverport Park, Cromwell · Friday, July 3 · 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM
This year's parade isn't the usual Fourth. It's the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, and Middletown and Portland are marking it together. The America 250th Committee pulled in groups from fifteen towns across Middlesex County, which makes Saturday the biggest Main Street parade the city has put on in years.
Here's why it's worth showing up for. A 250th comes around once in most lifetimes, and the towns that treat it like a real moment, not a box to check, tend to build something that sticks. Middletown's picked the first option. The route runs the length of Main Street, the South Green hosts the after-party, and every bit of it is free.
So go. Stake out a spot on the curb by 9:45, let the kids chase the fire trucks, and stay for the food trucks and Eight to the Bar afterward. Two hundred fifty years is a lot of candles. Might as well light a few of them on Main Street.
In Case You Missed It
🎆 The city's big fireworks were June 27, but if you still want a show on the Fourth, Lake Compounce lights up July 3 and 4 at 9:30, about forty minutes west in Bristol.
🧗 Brownstone in Portland has its zip lines and water obstacles running for the summer, with day passes from $24. A good rainy-or-shine backup if the parade isn't your speed.
🎶 Cromwell's summer concert series keeps going Wednesday nights at Riverport Park through August 12.