Randolph ‘Peace Signs’
On Parade via YouTube

Randolph’s Fourth of July parade still lives—on YouTube.

Among the entries in Wedsnesday’s parade was a round little vehicle that called itself a Peace Bubble.

The Peace Bubble is the creation of the singer Jerry Leggett, who came to Randolph on the invitation of Tom Harty to promote his "peace sign" campaign.

Leggett has created videos from towns and cities all across the country in which he and his wife approach groups and individuals at random and hask them to flash the two-fingered "peace sign."

When they do, he records them on his video recorder. He puts the videos on YouTube. It’s all part of a 23,000-mile "peace tour," Harty explained this week.

He had met Leggett some years ago at a conference of the United Church of Christ, in which both are pastors (Leggett is also a practicing Buddhist, Harty said). When he heard he was in Maine with his Peace Bubble, Harty invited him to the Randolph parade and put him up at SweetSerenity.

As a result, there are now dozens of Randolph citizens on YouTube flashing the "peace sign."

The YouTube link is: www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQliCoNfkIw

Leggett often follows up by asking a question: "Do you think peace is possible?"

Predictably, most of the responses from Randolph folk were in the affirmative. The most poignant moment in the video, however, comes when Leggett poses the question to 91-year-old Jim Young.

"No, I don’t think so," Young responds sadly. "Too many people love guns."

He explains that he himself hates war and yearns for peace, but he just doesn’t think it will happen.

From Randolph, Leggett took his Peace Bubble to Syracuse, N.Y. Harty explains that when Leggett travels, he goes to local churches, getting what he needs to continue the journey.

He also sells his music CDs, of which 70,000 copies are in print.

"He’s really committed to the process," Harty said. "He wants to get a dialogue going."