LORDVILLE, NY — Callie Brunelli traces her family history back to the original Lord family, for whom the tiny riverside settlement of Lordville is named.

More than seven decades in the past, the Lords and their neighbors started celebrating Independence Day by staging a parade through town, a uniquely All-American event that over the years has evolved into a diverse gathering of folks. They pay homage to the spirit of July 4 as they march across the Lordville bridge over the Upper Delaware River to neighboring Equinunk, PA, and then back to the hamlet.

“The parade started in about 1948 with two cousins, me and Connie, in a wagon, with my Aunt Ida pulling it,” recalled Brunelli. Since then, it became a community event; she called the parade an annual meeting of “friends and neighbors, but not politics.”

“I always stress that we celebrate our patriotism, not our politics,” she said. “That is what keeps it going!”

Brunelli said that Lordville was originally part of a land grant dating back to the French and Indian War, the Seven Years War of 1756-1763.

Her grandfather, Edward Joyce, married her grandmother Evva Lord, carrying on the tradition of Lords living in the Upper Delaware River Valley.

Before the parade kicked off, a traditional reading of the Declaration of Independence was held in the Lordville Presbyterian Church, which dates back to 1896, and which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

After the parade, participants and spectators alike were invited into Boris Kheyman’s artist’s compound to view two exhibits: “Explosion,” a series of more than 100 drawings by Nancy Wells—“every piece is bursting with a story,” it was said—and “Bubble Gum Portraits of Friends,” by an anonymous artist.

In closing, John Bromberg presented a gallery talk and cantastoria.

In these days, a Fourth of July parade can’t escape the specter of politics, and the Lordville Parade was no exception to the shadow of current events.

Janet Burgan, a local singer, songwriter and guitarist with roots in New York City, proudly led the marchers, carrying an American flag, noting that she has participated in the parade on and off for more than 20 years.

“I really have the feeling that the flag has been co-opted by the Trump Republicans and the radical right, and I believe that in a democratic republic we could be headed for a fascist future,” she said.

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Burgan added that her family is deeply rooted in American soil, as “my people came here with the Mayflower” from the English shores. “My father was a WWII veteran, and I can see him spinning in his grave at the current state of affairs,” in the United States, she said.

Speaking “totally from my heart,” Burgan said, “We are going to take back our beloved country… we are going to vote, we are going to vote, we are going to vote!”

Boris Kheyman, a noted artist in various media, both functional and design, came to Lordville in 2006, and recalled seeing the old stone buildings of Ravina, a national historic district in the hamlet of Lordville.

Reflecting on his first experience in Lordville, he said, “The first time you get someplace, you feel like it’s home… the people working on the railroad and all the fog… this is my place.”

Kheyman, who was born in war-ravaged Kiev, Ukraine, said, “Half of my family are from the Ukraine and the other half in Belarus… it’s a very tough situation over there… I am rooting for them.”

While the Lordville parade featured a plethora of red, white and blue, the sense of patriotism extended across the globe, as folks danced in the streets to the sounds of the Ukrainian national anthem.