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WELL OVER 500 people filled the grounds of the Solidarity Center in Brewer this 4th of July, drawn by folk legend David Mallett (pictured at right), a museum on wheels dedicated to the failures of the Bush Administration, organic lamb, union chili and, not least, the spirit of patriotic solidarity.
Threatened showers never materialized as this eighth incarnation of the annual 4th of July Solidarity Celebration set new standards for crowd size and entertainment value.
The Eastern Maine Labor Council (EMLC) and Food AND Medicine (FAM) were joined in sponsoring the event this year by the national AFL-CIO, which designated it as one of a handful of "Turn Around America" events it was holding around the country this Fourth.
Cynthia Phinney, Business Manager for Local 1837 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), received this year's EMLC Solidarity Award for her dedicated efforts both inside her union and in the wider community. Three young people were awarded Solidarity Scholarships, a new joint program funded by the EMLC and FAM.
Headliner Mallett was accompanied on the bill by fellow Maine folksters Bill Morrissey and Shawn Mercer. Rounding out the entertainment was a very amateur but very spirited musical--titled "Unconventional Wisdom" and produced by FAM volunteers--that addressed in a light-hearted manner many of the issues at stake in the fall's elections.
Maine Senate candidate Tom Allen and Congressman Mike Michaud each made presentations, as did EMLC and FAM board member Steve Husson, who eloquently rebutted by way of painful personal experience the recent public assertions of a local Republican leader to the effect that only the lazy and careless were suffering from the current recession.
The Bush Legacy Bus, a 28-ton moveable testament to the follies and tragedies of the past seven-and-a-half years, was a popular attraction. Visitors could revisit through interactive displays (and in air-conditioned comfort) the lowlights of the Bush Administration, from the health-care crisis to Hurricane Katrina to the recession to Iraq.
One of the event's signature traditions--catapulting objects representing disagreeable people--was continued, this time with a high-tech twist. Americans United for Change, the group behind the Bush Bus, had held an online competition for what should receive the heave-ho this year; the winner, a bush wearing a cowboy hat, was launched near the festivity's end.
Volunteers brought in scores of dishes for the evening's meal, from pasta to salad to dessert. Over a dozen door prizes contributed by local businesses were handed out.
FAM volunteer Peter Janarelli was a double winner on the day, receiving not only one of the Solidarity Scholarships but the Union Chili Cookoff crown as well. He won the coveted chili title while representing FAM's newest project, the Worker Center of Eastern Maine (and despite a last-minute missing-ingredients crisis).
Janarelli immediately donated his $50 cash prize to the funds being raised at the event by IBEW Local 1253 on behalf of 30-year member Rick Pedley and his girlfriend Linda Smith, both badly injured in a camping accident this summer.
Over a dozen local political candidates were in attendance at an event that over the years has become a must-stop on the Eastern Maine campaign trail.
Children were well-occupied by an activity tent that offered squirt-gun painting and other games, all supervised by members of the newly organized home-based child-care union. In another corner of the grounds, adult visitors reviewed past FAM accomplishments recounted through colorful displays.
With night falling and fireworks being prepared across the river, David Mallett kept his audience as children chased red, white and blue balloons in front of the stage. Only when Mallett called it quits did the crowd--after considerately picking up their trash and folding their chairs--make their way by a lighted path through the woods to the park next door to watch the pyrotechnics over the Penobscot.
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