Serving as Grand Marshal of the Needham Fourth of July parade was “very humbling” said former astronaut Sunita Williams who was cheered as she rode in a convertible along the parade route. Williams was driven by Town Moderator Michael Fee, and her mother rode along.
“I’m very thankful for the people who have come out and just excited to be part of the Needham scene once again,” said Williams. “Being the 250th anniversary of the country, I think everybody should take a step back and understand how lucky we are, how fortunate we are. We can achieve great things when we work together.”
The Independence Day events are put on by the Exchange Club, and its immediate past president Mark Fachetti said their planning for the nation’s 250th anniversary included Williams from the start. “She is not only a local hero but an American hero. So we were very glad that she was able to accommodate us.” Fachetti was riding in the car behind her in the parade. “The entire way she had people applauding her. It was great to see the enthusiasm they gave her.”
While she was in town, Williams visited with former Needham High School classmates at the Common Room at the invitation of co-owner Tom Griffin, a fellow NHS graduate. For the occasion, the restaurant featured a balloon-display likeness of Williams in her space suit.
“It’s great to be back here because this is the door that opened for me to understand that I could do a lot of neat things if I wanted to,” said Williams. “This town encourages kids to get out there and try stuff. This is a great town!”
The Exchange Club’s festivities began July 3 with family activities and food at Memorial Field in the late afternoon and evening ahead of the annual fireworks show. Fachetti said for the 250th the fireworks were more robust with different types of displays, more elaborate colors and more red, white and blue. “We did more because we wanted it to be special,” he said.
When a few of the fireworks didn’t ignite at the very end of the show the finale lacked that special ending flourish. “Sometimes some don’t go off and that’s what happened,” said Fachetti. “You don’t notice if it’s in the middle,” but this time it happened at the end. “Some of the fireworks that were supposed to go unfortunately didn’t go off. So that’s why it kind of ended like that.”
Needham Assistant Fire Chief Donald Anastasi said it’s not unusual for some of the fireworks to miss. “Every year when they do them there’s always gonna be a few that don’t ignite in the sequence that they’re supposed to.”
He also said that sparks from the fireworks inevitably drop onto the crates containing the shells and start small fires during the show. When it happened this year, the NFD extinguished them after the fireworks they were near were set off. He said it was nothing out of the ordinary and the small fires did not affect or shorten the fireworks display, which Fachetti said ran as programmed for 20 minutes.
NFD fire inspectors are on the scene the entire time the fireworks are there, Anastasi said. “Then when it’s done, we stay with the fireworks company until they’ve established that all the unexploded fireworks have now been discharged, and it’s a completely safe area.”
This year that meant neighbors heard a few fireworks go off after 11 p.m. when the company was finally able to rewire and discharge the remaining shells.
Anastasi said they prepared for the worst given the heat, but everything went well.
“In the end,” said Fachetti, “we got a lot of comments that the fireworks were great.”
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