LWV-Needham Joins the Needham July 4th Celebrations
The League of Women Voters of Needham has participated in the Needham July 4th Parades or Festivities since 2015. Our themes reflect our mission: Empowering Voters – Defending Democracy, and the annual Exchange Club’s Parade theme.
LWV-Needham is committed to bringing our messages of voting, advocacy for the environment, supporting our town and residents, and honoring the women who have come before us, while enjoying being part of the Needham community’s annual festivities.
We have received numerous Exchange Club awards:
2026: Grand Prize
2025: Grand Marshall’s Award
2024: Grand Prize
2022: Grand Marshall’s Award
2020 & 2021: No awards (COVID-19 pandemic)
2019: Grand Prize
2017: Grand Marshall’s Award
2016: Independence Award
2015: Spirit of America Award
July 4, 2026
The League of Women Voters of Needham won the Grand Prize at the Needham Fourth of July Parade!
In honor of the 250th birthday of the Declaration of Independence, the League of Women Voters float featured a large copy of the Declaration itself, along with a patriot to read it to the audience. The float was accompanied by a fife and drum duo.
The United States Declaration of Independence, adopted on July 4, 1776, is the nation’s founding document. It was written primarily by Thomas Jefferson and approved by the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia. It declared that the 13 American colonies were separating from Great Britain and laid out the fundamental principles that all people have natural, unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Watch our one-minute slide show here!
July 4, 2025
The League of Women Voters of Needham won the Grand Marshall’s Award at the Needham Fourth of July Parade!
In keeping with the parade theme “The Dawn of the American Revolution,” the League of Women Voters presents its float Boston’s Liberty Tree: Meeting Place for Resistance!
The Liberty Tree was a famous elm tree that stood in Boston, Massachusetts at the corner of Essex Street and Orange Street (now Washington Street), near Boston Common.
The tree became a gathering place for colonial protesters. A liberty pole was installed nearby with a flag that could be raised above the tree to summon the townspeople to a meeting.
On August 14, 1765, a crowd gathered under the tree to protest the Stamp Act, and when the Stamp Act was repealed in 1766, townspeople gathered at the Liberty Tree to celebrate. They decorated the tree with flags and streamers and hung lanterns.
During the Siege of Boston, loyalist merchants cut down the tree in August 1775.
Today the site where the tree once stood—now Washington and Essex Streets—has a small plaza with a plaque saying: “Sons of Liberty, 1766; Independence of their Country, 1776.”
Learn more about the history of the Liberty Tree.
Watch our one-minute slide show here!
July 4, 2024
The League of Women Voters of Needham won the Grand Prize at the Needham Fourth of July Parade! Our float: “It Takes a Village” was a tribute to the non-profits that help Needham and its residents in so many ways. A replica of Town Hall was the highlight, with four signposts with the names of some of our many non-profits.
Watch our 90-second slide show here!
July 4, 2023
The Needham League of Women Voters encouraged informed voting with its 2023 entry in the Needham July 4, 2023 Parade.
Watch the 50-second video of our float here!
July 4, 2022
The Needham League of Women Voters brought awareness to the Climate Emergency with its 2022 float entry in the Needham July 4, 2022 Parade. The float, “It’s in Our Hands” reminded parade watchers that we all need to work together for the future of our planet.
Watch the one-minute video of our float here!
July 4, 2021
In 2021 the League of Women Voters of Needham celebrated our emerging from the pandemic as we declared “Open for Business.”
Click the post on the right for a summary and video presentation.
July 4, 2024
Grand Prize winner!
July 4, 2020
In 2020 the parade was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But the Exchange Club invited residents of Needham to decorate their homes. The League of Women Voters of Needham decorated a home with the theme of voting in the 2020 fall elections.
July 4, 2019
In 2019 the League of Women Voters of Needham was awarded the Grand Prize for its float honoring the Silent Sentinels.
Click the post on the right for a summary and video presentation.
July 4, 2018
For the fourth consecutive year, LWV-Needham participated in the Needham July 4 parade.
The League returned to its message of voting in preparation for the 2018 election, while maintaining our emphasis on sustainability with a zero-emissions foot-powered float, a tradition started in 2016.
We also continued our tradition of honoring the women’s suffrage movement by wearing purple sashes.
Click on any photo below to start a slide show.
July 4, 2017
The League of Women Voters/Green Needham foot-powered float was a huge hit at the July 4 parade! The organizations assembled a “grand coalition” of groups in town working on environmental issues: 46 marchers representing 11 organizations and houses of worship!
The marchers and the float made a beautiful statement of how many people in Needham care about the environment and are working on sustainability in their different ways.
The foot-powered float won the Grand Marshall’s Award for Creativity of Design!
Thanks to Green Needham and the LWVMA Citizen Education Fund for supporting this activity.
July 4, 2016
July 4, 2015
The League of Women Voters, in honor of its 75th Anniversary Celebration, rekindled its participation in the Needham July 4 parade in 2015. The League was awarded the Spirit of America trophy.
