This house at 912 Hope St. in Bristol has a red, white and blue-painted lawn in preparation for the Fourth of July parade.

projo.com / Maria Caporizzo

It would be difficult to imagine someone to better symbolize the spirit of Bristol’s Independence Day parade than Tim Hale, a 42-year-old man who sits on the front porch of his in-laws’ home on Hope Street on Friday afternoon. In less than 20 hours, Saturday’s parade will kick off not far from where he sits.

Hale is wearing shorts and T-shirt and he sports a short and tidy beard. Only the signs hanging outside the house provide a clue to what he does and where he’s been over the last few years.

“101st Airborne Division,” one sign reads.

“Welcome Home, 20 Years Service, Maj. Tim Hale,” reads the other.

Twenty years ago Saturday –– on July 4, 1989 –– Hale enlisted in the Army. A month ago, Hale returned from 15 months in Afghanistan. Before that, he completed two tours of duty in Iraq.

The major, a medical specialist, and his family have much to observe.

“It’s a celebration of our heritage and the pride we have,” Hale says. Pride in his country, he says –– and pride in “other service members,” not only those who are in other branches of the military, but civilian police, firefighters and EMTs.

“You take time to honor those who serve your country,” says Cyndi, Hale’s wife of nearly 16 years.

There is, of course, also the pageantry and good holiday times that an estimated 100,000 people viewing or marching on Saturday will share with the Hales. One of America’s oldest and grandest Fourth of July events, the Bristol parade has been staged almost continuously since 1785, just nine years after the Founding Fathers adopted the Declaration of Independence. The parade begins at 10:30 a.m.

Signs of Saturday’s festivities abound on Friday afternoon: bunting and flags on homes and businesses along the parade route, no-parking signs on utility poles, chairs set up on lawns, the signature red-white-and-blue stripe down the middle of Hope Street, advance crews at the parade staging area near Mt. Hope High School.

At the Hope Street home owned by Cyndi Hale’s parents, Hal and Bev Whitham, relatives and friends were busy preparing for Saturday’s gathering of some 50 people –– “cousins, aunts, uncles, close friends,” including two who have flown in from Colorado and Seattle, Cyndi says. Among the menu items: baked ham, baked turkey, pizza, chourico, potato salad and the obligatory hot dogs and beans.

Cyndi, whose family’s Bristol roots go back three generations, says she has been attending the parade since she was “knee-high to a grasshopper.” Her husband’s experience is more recent, but no less meaningful.

“It’s a feeling of coming home,” he says. “It’s not only my anniversary of service, but being able to spend time with my family.”

“We have a wonderful, wonderful family,” says Cyndi. “We are so blessed.”

Tim is originally from Oregon, but his home base now –– literally –– is Fort Campbell, Ky. He and Cyndi have a home nearby, and with his overseas deployments over, for now at least, that’s where the couple will return after the parade.

Casually dressed on Friday, Tim will wear his Army uniform for Saturday’s parade. He and Cyndi expect to awake at 3 a.m. –– earlier, he says, than he got up when he was serving in an Army surgical unit assigned to provinces along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. The early rising is the only way they can ensure that their guests will have room on their lawn. The predawn hours are busy with parade-goers seeking to claim spaces, Cyndi says.

A small price to pay, she says, for another Bristol Fourth.

“It’s crazy but it’s fun,” the soldier’s wife says.

For more on Bristol’s Independence Day parade, visit www.july4thbristolri.com/Go Fourth!

Forecast

Mostly (finally) sunny, with a high near 80, possible afternoon shower, clearing before fireworks. Details, Page B6

Beaches

Most Rhode Island beaches should be open this weekend, but after a week of storms, water quality may be in flux. It’s best to check conditions before heading for the sand. A2

Fireworks, parades, etc.

From the Ancients and Horribles in Glocester to pyrotechnics over Battleship Cove, the day’s events. E3

A dandy tribute

At the top of Wickenden Street in Providence, not far from where George M. Cohan was born in a cold-water flat, a bronze bust honors “that Yankee Doodle Boy” whose music brought Americana to Broadway. B1

gwmiller@projo.com