Portsmouth holiday parade brightened by 7-year-old. Here's how he changed city tradition.
PORTSMOUTH — Market Square shimmered with holiday lights and festive flair during the city’s annual holiday parade and tree lighting ceremony Saturday. It also served as the closing act in Portsmouth’s 400th anniversary celebration.
The event had a new feature as the 40-foot spruce tree downtown was illuminated with colored lights for the first time. The change came after a petition from 7-year-old resident Cody Bureau.
The first-grader’s efforts paid off, as he was invited by Mayor Deaglan McEachern to flip the ceremonial switch to turn on the tree’s lights before Saturday’s parade stepped off from Islington Street.
"It’s unbelievable because it shows that a 7-year-old can truly make a difference,” said Christine Bureau, Cody’s mother. “We worked hard as a family and here we are.”His father, Chad Bureau, said Cody prefers colored lights on holiday tree. He and his family wrote a letter to the city, fundraised for colored lights and created an online petition calling for colored lights to adorn the city's 2023 holiday tree.
The Bureaus’ successful movement led to more than $2,000 being raised for the lights. Cody Bureau was born with a cleft palate, and he and his family are donating the remaining funds to Smile Train, as well as local good deeds nonprofit I Got Bridged.“We've got about $1,000 left over for charity now and we want to continue raising through the end of the year to see how much we can raise before the end of the year,” Chad Bureau said.
Cirillo grand marshal for final parade before retiring from Portsmouth schools
Steve Cirillo, performing arts director for the Portsmouth school district, served as the grand marshal for the parade. In 1988, he was hired by the district as the junior high school band director and percussion teacher. Since 2011, he has been in charge of all performing arts program activities in the city’s K-12 schools.
Cirillo joined the Bureau family and McEachern in turning on the lights strung on the Market Square tree.
Cirillo, who will retire at the end of school year, watched his final parade as a school district employee from atop the downtown viewing platform with city and state elected officials.
“To be part of this spectacular celebration, especially on the 400th anniversary of our city, I’m just so proud of Portsmouth,” he said.
Portsmouth 400th finale
Leaders of Portsmouth 400 NH stopped in front of the holiday tree during the parade to mark the end of the anniversary year. They performed a passing of the torch in front of the illuminated tree, handing candles to city high school students to honor the next stewards of the community.
“History Lights Our Way,” the slogan for the 400th anniversary, was the theme of Saturday’s parade.
Brinn Sullivan, parade planner and city assistant recreation director, said the parade had approximately 1,200 participants, with dozens of organizations and six marching bands.
Portsmouth City Council members and city state representatives were driven through the procession on a trolley, followed by local skateboarders, representatives from Cross Roads House and WSCA Portsmouth Community Radio, bands from area schools, and staffers from Portsmouth Regional Hospital. Gather food pantry had a vehicle representing the organization at the parade, which also included the Seacoast Area Bicycle Riders, Village of Hope, the New Hampshire SPCA, Extreme Air of New Hampshire jump ropers, I Got Bridged, Friends of Italian Americans and the Portsmouth Thriller dancers of Halloween lore.
With assistance from the Portsmouth Fire Department, Santa Claus was perched atop a ladder truck at the conclusion of the parade to wish all a good night.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Portsmouth holiday parade brightened by 7-year-old
