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The first-ever father and son chief marshals of the Bristol Fourth of July parade step into history.
In America’s most patriotic town, there’s no higher honor than being chosen chief marshal of the famous parade, which is why lifelong Bristolians and Safe-Way Auto Sales owners Joseph Coelho and his son, Joe Jr., were stunned when parade chairman David A. Burns knocked on their doors with the news. “I always wondered what it would feel like,” says Joe Sr. “It’s so exciting, it’s hard to explain.” In addition to being feted at the town’s Flag Day ceremony and annual Fourth of July ball, the Coelhos will take in the parade from the best seat in the house—no small thing for Joe Jr., who has always watched it while on the job, at the business he’s built with his dad since he was seventeen. “It meant a lot to them that I chose them together,” says Burns, who admires the Coelhos’ years of under-the-radar community service to the town they love. When the 224th parade begins and 100,000 spectators cheer them on, we think they’ll see that their town loves them back. — Nicole Maranhas
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