Gaspee Days: Feting Freedom’s First Fight

WARWICK, RI — This weekend, the state wraps Gaspee Days, the celebration of its lead role in the Revolutionary War, the burning of the HMS Gaspee by a daring band of Rhode Islanders in 1772 with a race & parade Saturday and recreation of the blazing act Sunday in in Pawtuxet Village, fittingly weeks before Independence Day.

After all, the burning of the Gaspee preceded the Boston Tea Party in 1773 by more than a year.

The Gaspee Project at Waterfire notes, “The attack on the Gaspee motivated further communication between the colonies in the form of the Committees of Correspondence and inspired the colonies to join together to seek their independence, ultimately leading to the founding of the United States of America.”

The British offered a reward for information about the Gaspee Affair and appointed a commission of inquiry to further investigate the matter. No one seemed to know anything when called to testify, according to the Gaspee Virtual Archives.

Here’s the schedule of events celebrating the Ocean State’s revolutionary leadership by example, termed, “The First Blow for Freedom”:

Saturday, June 9: 

• 

  9:30 a.m.: Gaspee Days 5K. Following the same route as the annual parade it precedes along Narragansett Parkway, the Allen & Edna W. Brown 5K Memorial Foot Race is the first big-crowd part of the celebration that  essentially shuts down the village of Pawtuxet for three hours. Organizers recommend getting into Pawtuxet by 8 a.m.; parking after that is hit-or-miss. The 5K draws more than 1,600 runners each year to run along the Parkway’s famed red, white, and blue road stripe. Runner registration is available online. Check in begins at 7:30 a.m. until 9 a.m. at the Scottish Rite Masonic Center, Broad Street & Rhodes Place, Cranston, RI.

• 10 a.m.: Gaspee Days Parade: Also following Narragansett Parkway, the parade draws a teeming, enthusiastic crowd watching marching bands and floats from lawn chairs, front lawns, porches and roofs. The parade features federal, state and local officials, the Pawtuxet Rangers, cannon fire, musket fire, and famed Dancing Cop Tony Lepore.

• 2 p.m till 8 p.m.: Colonial encampment: See what life was like in the 1770s at Pawtuxet Park, where several dozen [at least] historically-garbed folks will gladly show you their digs, threads, and chow.

Sunday, June 10:

• 10 a.m. – 4 .m.: Colonial encampment: See what life was like in the 1770s at Pawtuxet Park, where several dozen [at least] historically-garbed folks will gladly show you their digs, threads, and chow.

• 

  4 p.m.: Burning of the Gaspee: Get to Pawtuxet Park by 3:15 p.m. to get the best lookout spot. The next hour at 4 p.m. is marked by a loud “BOOM” — it’s the Colonials firing blanks from a real-deal cannon; and flames will soon consume a model Gaspee as it floats mere yards from where the original was torched.

Find more Gaspee Days information:

• At the Gaspee Days Committee website.
• At the Gaspee Days Committee Twitter feed.

How to get to Gaspee Days:

Pawtuxet Village sits astride Broad Street on the Cranston/Warwick line.

For the most direct route from out of town, take I-95 or I-295 to Rte. 37 toward Warwick/T.F. Green State Airport. Go all the way to the end and curl around to Rte. 1, Post Road. Continue on Post Road, crossing over Rte. 117, until you reach the end.

If using a GPS, enter 2206 Broad St., Cranston, RI, 02905.

• Narragansett Parkway and Broad Street (from Broad St and Chiswick St in Cranston to the end of Narragansett Parkway in Warwick) close at 8 a.m. June 8, and will remain closed until the end of the parade.
• There is NO parking at any point between either point of this closure. Plan alternative transportation and parking arrangements in advance.