Here’s where you want to be on July 3 and July 4!
On the cool, green slopes of Mt. Ascutney & in the charming village of Brownsville is where most would want to experience this magical, two-day celebration! Here is where a mountain and a village burst out into the grand Independence Day festivities.
"Adventures Await on Ascutney Mountain – Celebrating 10 Years of Ascutney Outdoors” is the theme of the 2025 Brownsville Independence Day Celebrations (IDC) on July 3rd & 4th
Starting at 6 PM on July 3, take in the views and music as mouth-watering aromas swirl through mountain- fresh air at Ascutney Outdoors. Enjoy an array of tasty delights by 3 diverse food vendors while anticipating the best, eye-popping fireworks display in the region. Get there early to ensure that you get to savor everything & to support this free event, consider dropping some change into an Uncle Sam hat!
Here’s what’s in store for your palate! The local Moonlighters will be serving up their all-time favorite hot dogs, hamburgers and fries, Wicked Awesome BBQ will provide finger-lickin’ good barbeque and sides. Throughout the evening as well, the perennial Lazy Cow Ice Cream will be serving up tongue-tingling delights. Please note, barbeques are prohibited on July 3rd anywhere on the mountain or in the parking area. And, here’s a link to Ascutney Outdoors’ BYOB policy … https://www.ascutneyoutdoors.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/BYOB-policy.pdf
Streaming into the night will be the music of the Fire House Dixie Land Band. Before the evening’s finale, you may get lucky if you buy a raffle ticket or two for the 50/25/25 AO/IDC raffle where you could be the winner of 50% of the sales. Last year’s winner took home $3,000! Then sit back, look up & enjoy IDC’s SPECTACULAR GRAND FIREWORKS display by Northstar Fireworks of East Montpelier, Vermont.
The next morning on July 4th, come down to Brownsville Village where the Outreach Committee of the Brownsville Community Church will be serving an abundant community breakfast of pancakes, eggs, bacon & sausage from 8:30 until 10 all the while you enjoy the live music of fiddler Adam Boyce and guitarist Dave Richard. The donations received at the breakfast will support local outreach & missions. Following the breakfast, there will be some lively line dancing led by Conrad Farnham of Copperhead Line Dancing in the church’s Tribute Park Pavilion. This free, fun bit of easy exercise is for all ages & abilities. Dancing runs from 10:30 until noon & is an opportunity to work off breakfast & build your appetite back up for lunch.
From 10 until 3, folks can wander over to the Town Hall where crafty vendors selling their wares (including woodworking, soft goods/textiles, collectibles & edibles), important local groups sharing important information or why not just buy that book you didn’t know you always wanted at the book sale?
Outside of Town Hall there will be the aroma of luscious foods cooking on grills. At that point, an appetite for lunch might be building. The Moonlighters will have come off the mountain to serve their grilled goodies & new this year, Letti’s Besitos will be serving up luscious Mexican fare. On the lighter side, the West Windsor Fast Squad will be serving their fruit smoothies & the West Windsor Historical Society will be offering ice pops at The Grange.
DJ Rick Davies will be streaming patriotic music before the highlight of the day which begins at 1:30, when the Grand Independence Day Parade, preceded by tolling of the Brownsville Church bell followed by the Windsor Police Chief’s blue light that will appear at the crest of the hill on the Brownsville Hartland Road. In this great big, small town parade, there will be decorated floats, Shriner’s Clowns antics on their little “trykes”, great big fire trucks from all over the region, antique cars, local law enforcement, decorated bicycles and proud marchers, too. A prize will be awarded to each of three float categories (most patriotic, most on theme & most humorous). There will also be a fire truck award being given by the West Windsor Volunteer Fire Department. Note that the Brownsville Hartland Road will be closed to all through traffic starting at 1:00.
If you are interested in volunteering on the 3rd, contact Bill Ley. If you can volunteer on the 4th or would like to participate in the parade, contact Karen Diop. These folks can be reached by emailing BrownsvilleIDC@gmail.com. To learn more about where you can help, visit https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080E4CA5AF2EA7F85-55863507-help
This annual celebration is all made possible by the generous donations from IDC Business Sponsors, individuals from all over and the Town of West Windsor! Your support of the Independence Day Celebration is greatly appreciated by all. Donations by check, payable to the Brownsville IDC, should be mailed to: Brownsville IDC, PO Box 37, Brownsville, VT 05037 OR http://www.fundrazr.com/BrownsvilleIDC2025
Tickets for the second Ascutney Outdoors & Brownsville Independence Day Celebrations 50/25/25 Fundraiser Raffle have been on sale since May so the prize is growing! This raffle will benefit Ascutney Outdoors at 25%, Brownsville Independence Day Celebrations at 25% and one LUCKY WINNER at 50%. Last year’s winner took home $3,000! Tickets will be available on June 28 at the Lafayette Reenactment breakfast (at the Elks in Windsor), July 3 event at the AO Center, the Independence Day festivities in town on July 4 & again at the AO center on July 5. The drawing will be on July 6th . You don’t need to be there to win & the winner will be notified by the phone number or email provided.
Thank you to the 2025 Brownsville Independence Day Celebrations Business Sponsors to date:
- GRAND SPONSORS: Mt. Ascutney Property Owners Association, Mountain’s Edge Condo Association
- AMERICAN EAGLE SPONSORS: Ennis Construction, Valley Artesian Well Company
- PATRIOT SPONSORS: Adam Boyce - Vermont Fiddler, Dan Lesnick Excavation, Gordon E.R. Troy Esq., Mt. Ascutney Hospital & Health Center, TwinLine Towing & Recovery, Vermont Facial Aesthetics.
- PARADE SPONSORS: Canon Tire, Dead River Company, MISys, Inc., Mascoma Bank, Osgood Welding, West Windsor Moonlighters.
- FLOAT SPONSORS: Ascutney Mountainside Condos, Four Generations, Goodhouse Landscaping, Leland Company, Parris Hill Farm, Tami’s Head Lines, Windsor Rotary
- BANNER SPONSOR: Frazer Insurance Agency
And a big “Thank You” to all our individual donors, the town of West Windsor, Ascutney Outdoors, First Responders from West Windsor / Windsor and all the volunteers for making this community celebration possible!
Brownsville Independence Day Celebrations Committee
BrownsvileIDC@gmail.com
http://www.fundrazr.com/BrownsvilleIDC2025
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080E4CA5AF2EA7F85-55863507-help
www.facebook.com/IndependenceDayBrownsville
Submitted by Linda Ley
802-484-3200 ~ 802-230-5325
ParrisHill@comcast.net
