Town festooned with colors, swelled with national pride

By HATTIE BERNSTEIN Staff Writer hbernstein@cabinet.com BROOKLINE – About an hour before the start of the town's annual July Fourth parade Friday, Jackie Knowles, her sister, Beth Gay, Knowles' daughter-in-law, Michelle Knowles, and Michelle's mother, Shirley Labonte, took their seats in lawn chairs they arranged in a row in the Community Church parking lot, close to the sidewalk. "Any parade in town, we're here," Knowles declared, quickly adding that Independence Day holds a special place in her heart. "It's freedom. You're celebrating the veterans who have saved the world for us." Knowles wasn't the only one thinking about the revolution that changed the course of American history. Nor was she alone in displaying national pride. Up and down Main Street, mothers, fathers, babies, toddlers, teenagers, young adults and older... [read full story]