Patriots Day still ‘the best day to be in Acton’ as parade delights
A year and a day after the Concord250 celebrations, Monday’s parade brought familiar traditions back to Acton Center.
Photos by Ken McGagh/The Acton Bridge
Casey van der Stricht watched a family friend’s daughter dart up and down Monument Street, passing out cake to Patriots Day parade marchers.
“It’s the best day to be in Acton,” she said after all the pastries were gone.
A year and a day after the Concord250 celebrations, Monday’s parade brought familiar traditions back to Acton Center.
The crowd was predictably smaller than 2025’s, but that didn’t diminish the excitement.
Acton celebrations are “special,” said reenactor Stephen Vultaggio, a distant relative of a revolutionary patriot. “You still feel the same pride, and you still get the same thrill.”
A Acton Center block party followed the morning parade, reprised from the semiquincentennial of the American Revolution’s start.
‘Biggest day of the year’
As the parade mustered on Stow Street, reenactors said an early-morning chill was good news for the contingents clad in heavy colonial garb.
Julie Beyer, who marched with the Acton Minute Men, grew up on Martin Road and remembers watching past parades roll down nearby Monument Street.
“This was the biggest day of the year for our family,” she told The Acton Bridge.
Onlookers once again lined Main Street and Monument Square as this year’s parade passed.
During a speaking program at the North Bridge, Minute Man National Historical Park Superintendent Simone Monteleone mentioned the upcoming 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
The milestone, she said, is in part about “reflecting on the responsibilities we share today.”
Select Board Chair Mark Howell acknowledged the eight years of fighting that followed the 1775 musket fire in Acton. “It is good to recall that change takes time and effort by many,” he said.
Bruce Hack marched in last year’s parade and watched this year’s procession at North Bridge. “It’s hard not to feel fortunate” to live in such a historic community, he said as smoke from the Acton Independent Battery’s cannons lingered in the air after the traditional wreath layings.
A front-row view
Lizzie Thome and her family enjoyed their third Acton Patriots Day from a prime vantage point. They “had no idea” they would be living along the parade route when they bought their Monument Street home, she told The Bridge.
Their daughter was only 4 months old for last year’s procession. This time, she toddled on the sidewalk as fifers fifed and drummers drummed.
A few houses down, Casey van der Stricht’s family continued the tradition of passing out baked goods initiated by their house’s previous owners.
Her husband — John — helped hand out cake, at one point lifting a tray high above his head for a stilt-walker. They prepared three cakes with red, white, and blue frosting this year and quickly ran out, he said.
The block party’s return featured music, food trucks, vendors, and other performances along Main Street. It was “such a success last year,” Concordian Di Clymer told The Bridge. “I’m glad to see it continue.”
Parade Marshal Maynard Forbes, a veteran and the former owner of the West Acton 5 & 10, paused on a reviewing stand outside the Town House for a few moments as the block party started. After 2025, he said, “It was still a good crowd today.”
“This was a lot of fun,” he told The Bridge.
