Two days ago I found myself weaving through a dense crowd, my right hand gripped tightly on my son Calvert and my left hand clasped on my nephew Harold. We were making our way to Boston Harbor to watch the theatrical reenactment of the Boston Tea Party when suddenly the throng closed in. In that moment it occurred to me that I hadn’t felt this kind of frenetic group energy since seeing the Rolling Stones at Giants Stadium as a teenager! But here for the 250th anniversary of a historical event, it was a crowd of more 30,000 gathered along the Harborwalk not to be educated or entertained but to bear witness to a ritual of remembrance.
As we were inching forward, I heard one of the orange-vested staff (volunteers?) shout to a colleague, “there’s already 5,000 more people here than we originally expected, and this doesn’t start for another hour!” Indeed, there were many more on the way, I knew this as I had been receiving messages from Holly Walters who was on Pearl Street following the “Rolling Rally” march led by Fife and Drum music with another few thousand spectators trailing behind. There were groups of reenactors in 18th century garb, more Ben Franklins and George Washingtons than I could count and plenty of tourists who had thrown on a tricorn hat to join in the spirit of the evening. As they passed the tap houses near the wharfs, groups of men and women with beer mugs in hand were drawn outside to line the streets and cheer them along. Anthropologists will tell you that engaging in acts of “Ritual Drama” like this is a universal, cross-cultural behavior - the exercise of commemoration puts us in touch with our human nature. As momentum builds, people are drawn into the action and derive a sense of belonging and meaning from participation. In our secular society, these opportunities are often centered on mythologizing the Founding history of our Nation. This “ritualizing” of history was on grand display with the heavily narrated, theatrical 30-minute summarization of a Boston Tea Party (simultaneously live streamed to the Nation) showcasing a polished version rather than an exact history. But the dramatization accomplished what it intended to do on an emotional level and those wanting to know more were able to crack open replica tea chests with an ax in Boston Common or attend exhibits and events that were presented by a variety of historical institutions in the weeks leading up to the commemorative date. From an educational standpoint, the digital footprint of social media postings, video conference presentations and commemorative research will likely shape our public understanding of this historical event for 50 years to come. Some of the onlookers who congested the downtown for the 250th anniversary night were Bostonians but the vast majority were people like me, tourists who had booked a few nights in a downtown hotel, dined throughout the city and loaded up on souvenirs to bring back home to family and friends. Unlike a concert or a sporting event at a stadium, the economic impact of Heritage Tourism is not contained to the tight timeframe of the event itself. It is well documented that heritage events have more than a 7-to-1 return on investment because Heritage Tourists stay longer, spend more money, and develop long lasting connections to a place that cause them to return for repeat visits. But on this particular December 16th, the takeaway for me was that perhaps because of all the distractions of modern life, access to endless scrolling on personal devices, worry in the profession about growing historical illiteracy, and the diminution of government investment coordination of important commemorations, there was genuine surprise about just how popular this “happening” ended up being. It was clear that the City of Boston left much of the work to volunteers and loosely organized (notoriously underfunded) historical stakeholders. There was not enough signage through the city in the days leading up to the event, hotel workers seemed to be unaware of the significance, I never saw any notable Police presence and staff (volunteers?) bearing the America 250 logo at the reenactment itself were quickly overwhelmed and unable to keep walkways safely clear during the event. It was a lesson in the popularity of historical commemoration, the apathy of government support and a reminder that if local planners design, fund, promote and staff these events properly, they have the potential to have a powerful impact on our local economies and tourism branding. Stakeholders in the historical community put together great programming, but not enough support was visible from the government partners who stood to benefit most from it. Imagine if even a fraction of the resources usually allocated to ticker-tape parades or music festivals had been directed here. There were no food trucks, souvenir vendors, or cab stands, none of the usual amenities expected at a public gathering of this size. Lucky for us in Orange County, we can look to Boston Tea Party 250th as an example and warning. Just as the theater of war moved south to the Hudson Valley following the early events of the American Revolution in Boston, so too will the focus shift in the years to come. With New York State and especially the region surrounding West Point at the heart of important anniversaries from 2024 to 2033, I encourage local elected officials, municipal historians, teachers and historical society volunteers to capitalize on the commemorative opportunities on the horizon.
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