Bristol will celebrate its 228th consecutive Fourth of July next week, but parade-goers will miss out on a few annual marchers in this year's parade thanks to federal funding cuts.
Effects of the sequestration will trickle down to the city's annual parade as some recurring marchers - especially military groups - will be blocked from coming due to a loss of arbitrary funds that normally pay for travel to Bristol's Fourth of July Parade, reports the Providence Journal.
As a result, a few of the parade's prominent military contingents had to drop out this year because of budget-related spending and travel restrictions. The parade will be missing one of its top musical ensembles, the U.S. Army's Pershing's Own band, which had to drop itself from the marching roster because of sequester cutbacks to its travel fund.
Most parade-goers probably won't notice much of a difference though, said Dick Devault, general chairman to the Bristol 4th of July Committee.
"The travel budget navy has now didn't allow for them to pay for buses, even from newport," said Devault. "The only point to be made is that where we could, we made adjustments."
Anonymous donors spent some of their own money to pay for travel expenses for some local military groups.
The annual flyover event that traditionally kicks off the first steps of the parade will be performed instead by two small private planes.
What do you think about the changes to this year's Fourth of July Parade in Bristol? Do you think parade-goers will miss out on the military groups that are blocked from coming due to sequestration cuts?
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