(Fanwood) – The Fanwood Memorial Library joined with hundreds of towns nationwide for a community read of the Declaration of Independence on July 8th at 6 pm, commemorating the first public reading of the historic document. The date marks the anniversary of July 8, 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was first read aloud at 6 pm to the people after its adoption by the Continental Congress. The event is part of Fanwood’s celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States.
Mayor Mahr was one of four readers of the Declaration of Independence along with World War II Veteran Joe Schott, who recently celebrated his 105th birthday, Fanwood Historian Joan Skubish, and Jonathan Cole of Scouting America Troop 104. Community members also joined in the reading, which was displayed on a screen in the front of the library’s Community Room.
Following the reading, families took part in a hands-on Boston Tea Party reenactment by making their own tea bags and tossing them into a makeshift “harbor.”
