We’ve crossed into the rump end of America’s 250th year, but some towns are still getting their fireworks in, including my own, Clinton Township. They threw a big party outside the library ahead of a fireworks show after sunset. There were several bounce houses full of bouncing children and about a dozen food trucks slinging kettle corn, Korean corn dogs, fried chicken, pizza, ice cream and all the rest.

I didn’t go for the fireworks, though. I went for the event that kicked off the evening’s festivities: a 6 p.m. reading of the Declaration of Independence on the steps of the old town-hall-turned-historical-museum. I don’t think I’ve ever heard the whole Declaration read out loud before, and it had been about six months since I took any photos with my camera, so I went to have a look.

James Hungerford addressing crowd

The reader was James Hungerford, former teacher and chairman of the Clinton Township Historical Commission. I had hoped for the reader to be wearing some period garb, but Hungerford greeted us in plain clothes.

James Hungerford

I did, however, love his hat featuring the logo for the Clinton-Kalamazoo Canal, an unfinished canal that is one of the township’s main historical oddities.

Clinton-Kalamazoo Canal logo
This design is also on roadside signs marking the former path of the canal.

I commend him for getting up there and fighting through microphone trouble, if he was aware of it. He was all but inaudible. He didn’t even make it to the end of Jefferson’s first sentence before the mic cut out entirely. Still he muddled silently along through another 84 words before the mic came back. He was still quiet, though; someone shouted “We can’t hear you,” but he never got any louder. Suffice it to say, little of the Declaration was heard.

James Hungerford reading declaration

The other reason I still haven’t heard the entire Declaration of Independence read aloud is that he only read part of it. He skipped the 27 grievances against the king and instead just paraphrased a couple of them, particularly the one about quartering British soldiers. Afterward, the audience was invited to sign an oversized “birthday card” to America from Clinton Township.

This ended up being somewhat of a letdown, but everybody’s heart was in the right place. It was a beautiful day, and the food truck lineup was genuinely impressive.