The nation's oldest continuous Fourth of July celebration returns to Bristol on Friday. The much-beloved Military, Civic, and Firemen’s Parade on Independence Day begins at 10:30 a.m. at the corner of Chestnut Street and Hope Street and ends on High Street.

The Town of Bristol in Rhode Island, located about 16 miles south of Providence, holds the record for the oldest Fourth of July celebration in the country, according to the town's website. The annual celebration in the waterfront community of Bristol began long before the Fourth of July became a federal holiday in June 1870.