This year, I am again photographing the Pittsfield 4th of July parade after a two-year hiatus. I’ve also photographed the Williamstown 4th of July parade and countless others including the annual Fall Foliage parade in North Adams.

Last year, while in Wyoming for my wedding, I participated in the town of Dubois’ annual parade as the ranch had a wagon to ride in, and not surprisingly I took photos as well. It was fun to stand on the wagon as some of us shot water cannons into the crowds of spectators along the parade route.

As parades reflect the communities in which they are held, the contrast of the two parades — one in Massachusetts and the other in Wyoming — couldn’t have been more different even if the reason for celebration was the same.

Independence Day is our annual celebration of nationhood, marking the ratification of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776.

As we approach the 2024 presidential election and the divisions in our country, we must reflect on the fabric of our country and just how diverse it is.

While Massachusetts was settled earlier and is part of New England, Wyoming, wild and vast, was settled much later as Americans moved westward. After becoming a territory of the U.S., it became the 44th state on July 10, 1890.

I love the state of Wyoming. The first time I visited was in 1993, then again in 1995. Thirty years later in 2023, I was there a third time, spending a week there around the July 4th holiday on a family trip at a dude ranch, riding horses, enjoying the gorgeous scenery and getting married to my beloved Dan. I have an archive of photographs, mostly slide and negative film images, capturing the beauty of the area from my two previous trips. I took even more last year, many with a digital camera and my cellphone. A large majority of those images were taken on horseback.

During this trip, I was impressed by the landscape and the diversity of the staff at the dude ranch. The majority of the wranglers at the ranch were women. I probably wouldn’t have really noticed, but my husband Dan said that when he was there in the 1980s as a teenager, all of the wranglers were men.

Advertisement

Wyoming is not particularly diverse in its population. The least populated state in our union, the racial make-up of the state is 88.65 percent white. When Dan and I went to get our wedding license, we drove to Lander, about an hour and 15 minutes from Dubois. In the municipal offices, I saw one person of color who looked to be Native American. It wasn’t until we left Dubois and drove to Salt Lake City via Jackson Hole that I saw a Black man.

During the parade, I took some photos of our group in the parade and then hopped on the wagon with our fellow dude ranch guests and employees to enjoy the revelry of the Fourth of July in the Wild West.

While the parade included all the usual fanfare celebrating the town’s charm and local businesses, I was stunned to see army tanks traversing the streets in the parade.

The show of at least a half-dozen tanks were apparently from the nearby National Museum of Military Vehicles. While the show of these historic, world-class military vehicles seemed relevant given that the museum was in town and a parade is a good excuse to bring them outside of the museum’s walls, the display of them in the streets caused me to feel a bit uneasy. I recalled how President Donald Trump had desired a military parade, like those in Russia and China, after seeing one in France in 2017.

Not surprisingly, I didn’t see any floats to show any support for Black Lives Matter or support of the LBGTQ community. Wyoming is a predominantly Republican state, and while there are probably small pockets of residents who support Democratic agendas, I imagine people don’t talk about it since on the range “seldom is heard a discouraging word.”

Former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney ended up losing her reelection bid when she joined nine other Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives to impeach Donald Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol. That, too, is a reflection of the Cowboy State’s mostly Republican electorate.

So as I cover the Pittsfield Fourth of July parade this year, I will have a new appreciation for it and relish the diversity of our beautiful Berkshires. I am grateful to be living in New England and cannot imagine living anywhere else. I still love Wyoming and hope to be able to visit it again some day in the not too distant future.

Cyanobacterial blooms in Wyoming rivers and reservoirs can be harmful or even deadly for people, pets and livestock. So state agencies, including the Departments of Health and Environmental Quality, and the Wyoming Livestock Board, are warning residents to keep their distance.

Sometimes called blue-green algae — despite not technically being algae — these cyanobacterial blooms can produce neuro and liver toxins that are harmful and sometimes even deadly to humans, dogs and other animals.

The Department of Health warns against drinking, swimming in or even just touching water that looks like it might contain cyanobacteria — for example, if the water appears scummy or discolored.

Suspected blooms can be reported to the state. While the Wyoming Department of Health follows up on potential HCB-related illnesses, Wyoming DEQ investigates reported blooms to determine if they are harmful.

DEQ then issues advisories for specific bodies of water across the state. Both agencies recommend that outdoor recreators check for these advisories online before heading outside.

“HCBs [Harmful Cyanobacterial Blooms] typically develop in mid to late summer and can occur in flowing and non-flowing waters such as streams, rivers, lakes, and reservoirs,” notes an advisory published by Wyoming DEQ. “HCBs may be green, tan, brown, or blue-green in color. HCBs may float in or on the water and look like spilled paint, grass clippings, clumps, or scums. HCBs may also be attached to aquatic plants, rocks, or other material and look like films, mats, or gelatinous balls.”

If you do come into contact, rinse off immediately with fresh water. Seek medical attention if you or a pet starts experiencing any symptoms, like vomiting, fatigue, difficulty breathing or skin, throat or other irritations.

“Young children, pregnant women, people with weak immune systems, and animals are especially at risk,” notes Wyoming DEQ.

Despite the health risks posed by cyanobacteria today, humans could not have evolved without it.

About 2.4 billion years ago, these blooms filled earth’s atmosphere with the oxygen we now breathe, establishing the environment in which humans, dogs and all other large oxygen-breathing multicellular organisms evolved.

Wyoming has filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration’s new fuel economy standards. The rules will require light-duty vehicles to average 50 miles per gallon by 2031.

The rules are meant to save on fuel costs while reducing pollution, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. But Gov. Mark Gordon said the standards aren’t workable in Wyoming, where long distance travel and extreme cold mean that electric vehicles may not be the best option.

“They have no reason to overreach into Wyoming’s driving habits,” Gordon said in an interview. “Most people here drive pickups. They might have loads of livestock that they have to haul and electric vehicles don’t necessarily make sense for that.”

Gordon said the new rule amounts to a federal mandate to force a consumer transition to electric vehicles. In a joint letter from January, governors from 16 states urged Pres. Joe Biden to reel in his ambitions regarding electric vehicles.

Due to the remote nature of the state’s roads, Gordon said the new rules, which would also require charging stations every fifty miles, don’t consider the reality of driving in Wyoming.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that he’s working to find solutions for the unique circumstances of the Cowboy State.

“We’re conscious that a one-size-fits-all approach is not going to work,” said Buttigieg in an exclusive interview with Wyoming Public Radio. “We’re in good dialogue with the governor and with WYDOT [Wyoming Department of Transportation] about how to make sure that we apply that common sense here in this program.”

Wyoming is currently engaged in 58 lawsuits against various federal agencies, according to the governor’s office. Gordon said that the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on the Chevron doctrine, which had given agencies leeway when ambiguous legal language left room for interpretation, may impact Wyoming’s lawsuits.

“It may mean that regulators will have to take the process more seriously,” Gordon said. “It may rein in some energy regulation and federal overreach.”

This reporting was made possible by a grant from the Corporation For Public Broadcasting, supporting state government coverage in the state. Wyoming Public Media and Jackson Hole Community Radio are partnering to cover state issues both on air and online.