BRISTOL Twenty-one years after they were driven out by rowdy spectators, the Rhode Island Shriners are returning to the annual July Fourth parade — and they’re bringing their clown outfits and wacky scooters with them.“We can sum it up quickly and say we’re going back there because I want to,” says Frank DiMascio, the Shriners’ reigning potentate who also performs as Sparkey the clown, a play on his day job as an electrician.

“I’m glad we’re going back there because it’s a nice parade and we haven’t been on the East Bay side of the state in quite awhile,” he said with a laugh.

The parade — the centerpiece of Bristol’s 223rd Independence Day festivities, the oldest continuous such celebration in the country — kicks off at 10:30 a.m. and the last marchers are expected to pass the reviewing stand on High Street about 3 1/2 hours later. The parade route, which begins at the corner of Hope and Chestnut streets and ends on High Street at the Town Common, is about 2 1/2 miles long.

The Shriner clowns will be juggling, posing for photographs with children and pulling pranks on those at the parade. But don’t expect to see the balloon animals or sweets these clowns used to distribute.

“Years ago, candy was passed out, but now because of allergies to latex or for diabetics, we cannot pass out any candy or balloons,” DiMascio said.

The Shriners, an organization that oversees 22 hospitals nationwide offering no-cost care for children who have suffered burn or spinal injuries, among other ailments, last marched here in 1987. The group decided not to return after several members’ costumes — which can cost their wearers’ as much as $700 — were damaged by parade-goers, especially those who sprayed them with “silly string,” DiMascio said.

Chairman of the parade, Judy Squires, said the problems DiMascio were referring to happened “years ago,” and recent parades haven’t presented similar situations.

“I’m sure that there won’t be a problem,” she said.

Even though they inject fun and games into events, DiMascio said being a clown in the Shriners is serious business.

There are five categories of clowns within the Shriners. Whiteface clowns are the most traditional. Auguste clowns are “bumbling and clumsy,” DiMascio said, while Character clowns have specific roles. Tramp clowns are slightly drearier looking than the others, mostly clothed in brown or dark blue with fake 5 o’clock shadows.

“They’re sort of the hobo clowns,” DiMascio said.

Interestingly, many of the clowns are former lawyers, firefighters, police officers or members of the armed services.

“It’s a very diverse group,” DiMascio said. “But we’re all clowns once we put on the makeup. Once you’re in character, it’s like an actor or a singer, you become a totally different person.”

Squires said getting the Shriners back in the parade was “one of her goals” since September, when she took the post. She said she remembers watching them “many moons ago” as a child.

“People are just thrilled to have them back, and hopefully they will be welcomed with open arms,” she said.

Each troupe within the parade has its own secure room to prepare for the parade on the bottom floor of the Shriner headquarters in Cranston. The clowns keep their costumes, makeup and other props in a room with balloon-printed borders and a clown-face clock.

“The reason I joined was because I wanted to be a clown,” sais DiMascio, a Shriner since 1996. “That’s the honest truth. The only thing I knew about the Shriners was that they wore funny hats, they drove around in little cars, and they had clowns there.”

The “funny hats” DiMascio refers to are fezzes, worn by the officers at the front of the Shriner procession.

But the Shriners won’t be the only new clowns in this year’s parade. Among the new additions are clowns from The Funny Factory Organization out of New Jersey, where a clown-controlled car will ride along with the participants. The clowns participating are former Ringling Brothers circus clowns.

And also in costume will be a Johnny Depp look-alike. The faux star of Pirates of the Caribbean will interact with a group of “pirates” from East Hampton, Conn., in “Free Men of the Sea” aboard a float.

Squires said musical groups will be abundant in this year’s festivities, with 24 performing groups and 20 floats. Included is a four-piece mariachi band called Siesta del Norte, and children posing as characters from the Disney hit High School Musical. Former Massachusetts State Police Sgt. Dan Clark — known as The Singing Trooper — will be singing the national anthem, among other patriotic tunes.

Cartoon characters will be among those in the procession, including Tweety Bird, Sylvester, Dora the Explorer and Bugs Bunny. A Snoopy MetLife blimp is also scheduled to hover overhead.

Red Sox fans will be happy to see the team’s two World Series trophies from 2004 and 2007. They’ll be escorted by Jeremy Kapstein, the Rhode Island native and senior adviser of baseball projects for the team.

cthompson@projo.com