For Joseph Nieves, senior pastor of the Christian Assembly Church on Williams Street — one of the churches that constituted Berkshire Revival Fires, the tide of red shirts was a sign of a surging movement in the county. The dozen churches acted together for the first time, he said, "to accomplish what God wants us to accomplish in the city."

"We believe that the revival is beginning in Berkshire County, and we decided to call it Berkshire Revival Fires because we believe that is what is happening here, that there is a spiritual awakening," Nieves said.

'We all have a right'

Nieves contrasted the Fourth of July parade with the annual Halloween parade featuring children dressed as witches and goblins. "That is offensive to me as a Christian pastor. ... It's not that I want to see it stopped, but I think that we all have a right to express our faith, to express who we are."