WAKEFIELD — On the first day they appeared in the same place since March, Senator Scott Brown and Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren marched Wednesday evening in Wakefield’s Fourth of July Parade, the state’s largest.
But anyone expecting a face-to-face meet up would have been disappointed. The candidates never even greeted each other during the Wakefield festivities, nor at a Plymouth parade earlier in the day.
Brown walked closer to the front at the Wakefield event, waving to spectators in the town where he grew up. He wore khakis and a red, white, and blue striped golf shirt.
Warren followed later in the parade, dressed in blue and white and smiling broadly.
Their supporters, however, used the joint appearance as an opportunity to show allegiances in the Senate race, one of the most closely watched in the country.
“Scott Brown all the way!” shouted parade-goer Bill Talbot, after Warren had passed but before her entourage was out of earshot.
Warren’s volunteers did their best to drown him out with chants of “War-ren! War-ren!”
In a brief interview, Talbot, who wore a fuzzy cowboy hat colored red, white, and blue, echoed Brown’s most famous line from the campaign before his 2010 election. “It ain’t Kennedy’s seat,” said Talbot, a 47-year-old truck driver from Pepperell. “It’s the public’s seat.”
Still, even in the town where Brown grew up, Warren received plenty of cheers from parade-goers like Stoneham’s Rick Volpe, 65.
Volpe, who remembers watching John F. Kennedy march in the same parade, said Warren’s campaign has inspired him. “I don’t think she’s ever going to forget that there are people in this country that are hungry,” he said.
For Mike Jackson, 50, the parade brought back childhood memories of marching as a snare drummer. Since then, the Fourth of July has taken on added significance for Jackson, a manager for Comcast who lives in Peabody. Jackson served in the Marines, and he said the holiday reminds him of those serving the country abroad.
“This is a great day for that gentle reminder,” he said.
Jackson, who had tucked a small American flag in his shirt pocket, said he will vote for the incumbent. He likes Brown’s military background and believes he’s a more bipartisan senator than Warren would be.
Jen Lindsay, 31, who lingered on North Avenue after the parade with her family, said she will be voting for Warren in November.
“She’s a strong candidate out there for all of us, not just the big people,” said Lindsay, who lives in Haverhill.
The last time the candidates appeared together was on stage at the annual St. Patrick’s Day breakfast in South Boston, where they said little to each other. Brown and Warren are scheduled to meet in four televised debates beginning late this summer.
Saugus resident Jeff Leonard, 39, came out to Wednesday’s parade with his family, including his son, Grant, who was born last July Fourth.
Seeing both high-profile candidates marching by added to the experience, he said.
“It’s nice to see them out mingling with everybody — the common folk, as they say,” Leonard said.
But in a race that polls show as a dead heat, the candidates may have more political reasons for both showing their faces in Wakefield, said Richard Joyce, a chef from Lynnfield.
“This is the biggest parade in the state,” said Joyce, 59. “They’d be foolish not to.”
Adam Sege can be reached at adam.sege@globe.com.