Cabot Vermont Fourth of July Parade - It's raining Cheese!

Bread and Puppet Theater leads off the Cabot Parade

Each Fourth of July, the agricultural community of Cabot, Vermont hosts a parade that is the embodiment of rural Vermont.   People in central Vermont know that this is a low-key parade in this quaint farming village, and that's exactly what attracts them to it. 

The parade starts at the Cabot Creamery on Main Street and doesn't pass much beyond the United Church of Cabot and village green about a half-mile down the street.  It's not long, but it really doesn't have to be.  After all, this is more of a social event for the locals in this community of 1,400.

As with many parades, the shining red fire engines from surrounding communities usher the parade participants down the main street.  It includes homemade floats, local farmers on their tractors, local ATV clubs and a handful of classic/antique cars and trucks.

We attend our fair share of parades and it's pretty common to see children along the parade route standing poised, bags at the ready, to scramble about collecting the sweet treats that are tossed to them from parade participants.  While a little bit of candy was tossed about, Cabot provided an added bonus - sample packets of Cabot cheese.   And why not, after all, you're standing in the middle of farm country, and the home of Cabot Creamery, the region's most popular cheese producer,so it only makes sense.

As an added bonus, High Ledge Farm, a small organic farm in Woodbury, Vermont, handed out plant seedlings.  We were the recipients of a Calendula plant and broccoli plant, and they were handing out other herb and vegetable seedlings as well.  I have to admit, we thought that was pretty cool.  Where else can you get cheese and vegetables handed to you at a parade?  Leave it to Vermont.

The Cabot truck tossing out cheese packets

Classic ladder truck in Cabot parade

If you're in Cabot, it is only natural to visit the Cabot store where you can take the tour and sample a large variety of Cabot cheeses and other snack items.  As usual, we walked away with a couple 8-ounce blocks of cheese from the gift shop.  My wife and son liked the Garlic & Herb, while I go for the standard Extra Sharp or Hunter's.

We didn't hang around for the chicken barbecue, church rummage sale and other festivities because we had to get home.  But if we're back in the area next July Fourth, you can bet we'll head back to Cabot and perhaps linger a bit longer beneath the rolling green hills and white clapboard houses, savoring this little piece of authentic Americana.