Editing Willimantic, Connecticut (section)

== Culture ==
[[File:Downtown Willimantic, CT 01.jpg|thumb|The Third Thursday Street Fest in June 2018]]
Willimantic holds a Boom Box Parade every 4 July where, instead of a marching band performing, residents bring [[boom box]]es tuned to [[WILI (AM)|WILI]], the local AM radio station. The tradition started on Memorial Day of 1986, when no marching band was available for a parade.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wili-am.com/parade.htm |title=The WILI Boom Box Parade |publisher=WILI AM |access-date=2018-06-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150413065337/http://wili-am.com/parade.htm |archive-date=2015-04-13 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The parade has received national attention from the ''Washington Post''.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2000/07/05/no-76-trombones-in-this-parade/9a6959a9-ddbc-4ef8-a0ec-0f4fb674df3d/|title=No 76 Trombones In This Parade |first=Tim |last=Page |date=2000-06-05 |access-date=2007-06-08 |newspaper=[[Washington Post]]}}</ref> For [[Valentine's Day]], it runs a chocolate festival, including a baking contest.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.norwichbulletin.com/news/20180126/romantic-willimantic-chocolate-festival-to-feature-cake-contest |title=Romantic Willimantic Chocolate Festival to feature cake contest |newspaper=Norwich Bulletin |date=2018-01-26 |access-date=2018-06-06}}</ref> The event started with a popular set of T-shirts first printed in 1980, which led to the first crowning of a "Town Cupid" in 1982, now an annual event.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://patch.com/connecticut/mansfield/bp--windhamwillimantic-wonders-romantic-willimantic-abec7a35b0f |title=Romantic Willimantic - A Brief History |last=Leeds |first=Peter |date=2013-02-19 |publisher=Mansfield Patch |access-date=2018-06-06}}</ref>

Once a year, the Willimantic Victorian Neighborhood Association offers tours of homes in the [[Prospect Hill Historic District (Willimantic, Connecticut)|Prospect Hill Historic District]] as part of a "Victorian Days" event.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://victorianwillimantic.org/wordpress2/index.php/about/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180620101340/http://victorianwillimantic.org/wordpress2/index.php/about/ |url-status=usurped |archive-date=June 20, 2018 |publisher=Willimantic Victorian Neighborhood Association |title=About |access-date=2018-06-06}}</ref>

Starting in 2002, on the third Thursday of each month from May to September, the town holds the Third Thursday Street Fest on Main Street, an arts festival with live music and street vendors. The event is run by Willimantic Renaissance, a local nonprofit organization, and draws about eight thousand attendees.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.willimanticstreetfest.com/wri.htm |title=Third Thursday Street Fest |publisher=Willimanticstreetfest.com |access-date=2013-04-29}}</ref>