July 4th Parade Committee Announces 2022 Button Contest Winner

April 14, 2022 By Carol Britton Meyer

This year's Fourth of July parade button contest winner is Lauren Augier, a student at Saint Paul School.

Students submitted designs from all the town's schools based on the 2022 parade theme, "History Happens Here." There were 143 entries, judged by nine Fourth of July Parade Committee members.

The design Lauren presented depicts a Hingham Bucket, "which is perhaps the most famous emblem from the 19th century and was a major source of non-agricultural income for the town," an announcement from the parade committee noted.

As background, in 1845, the "Old Bucket Factory" was founded on Cushing Pond, run by steam power, and the mechanized manufacturing of wooden buckets began.  During its booming years, the factory employed as many as 50 skilled craftsmen, producing as many as 1,000 buckets a day.  These buckets were used in Hingham and New England's major fishing industry. Many oceangoing vessels took these buckets on fishing excursions around the world, earning Hingham the nickname, "Hingham Bucket Town," according to a history provided by the committee.

The committee praised Lauren for doing "a great job capturing this historical event. She also included the American flag as her backdrop, and her theme was presented clearly, accented with stars along the border in keeping with her overall patriotic theme."

Although there is only one button winner, the committee also mentioned three other noteworthy button designs by Phoebe Hertzog/East School, depicting Old Ship Church; Louis Stevenson/Foster School, featuring the antique Cape at 749 Main St.; and Lyla Wagner/Foster School, depicting Hingham Square (Loring Hall, Hingham Institution for Savings, and downtown shops).

About 5,000 buttons have been ordered, which will be available for a donation in the weeks leading up to the parade and during the event itself.