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Patriotic proclamation on Independence Day 2024

Patriotic proclamation on Independence Day 2024

Lou Bucceri dressed as Heman Allen, July 4.

Patrick L. Sullivan

LAKEVILLE — The traditional Fourth of July celebration at the town Grove on Lake Wononscopomuc went off without a hitch Thursday, July 4.

The rain held off until well after the main event, and even then it didn’t amount to much.

Sponsored by the Salisbury Association, the event features Lou Bucceri, dressed as Heman Allen, receiving the brand-new Declaration of Independence and reading it aloud.

Allen, er, Bucceri said he has been reading the Declaration on July 4 at the Grove every year since 2002.

“Except for weather and COVID.”

This took about 15 minutes and apparently made people hungry, as the line for hot dogs from EXTRAS (the childcare program at Salisbury Central School) was exponentially longer post-Declaration than pre-Declaration.

The Salisbury Band, led by Brian Viets, played its traditional mix of marches and popular tunes.

Before things got started Tracie Shannon of Lakeville was walked by her energetic dog Jasper to the main office at the beach to say hello to Grove manager Stacey Dodge.

Jasper, a small, white wooly type of dog, was all for this and displayed an astonishing ability to leap several feet in the air with no apparent effort.

Patrick L. Sullivan
Senior Reporter
Patrick Sullivan has been a reporter for The Lakeville Journal since 2004, covering everything from town meetings to local characters and the outdoors. He grew up in Northern Virginia but spent summers on Mount Riga in Salisbury, giving him a lifelong connection to the Northwest Corner. A graduate of Denison University, Patrick is also the author of Tangled Lines, the newspapers’ popular fly-fishing column—making The Lakeville Journal, as far as anyone knows, the only newspaper in Connecticut with a regular fly-fishing columnist. He once received a fan letter from England, which he considers sufficient evidence that his work has achieved international acclaim.

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