For the 44th year people in Wake Forest and a lot of their nearby families, friends and neighbors will celebrate the Fourth of July with a parade, music, games, hot dogs and – of course – a spectacular fireworks display. It is all the work of a cadre of volunteers who plan all year and are joined by a number of volunteers for the event.
The stadium show with music and the fireworks display will be held on Monday, July 3, in Trentini Stadium on the Wake Forest High School campus, followed by the children’s parade on North Main Street and then games and art in Holding Park and the Community House on Tuesday morning, July 4.
Everything except the stadium show and fireworks is free – and the show and fireworks tickets are only $5 – same price as in 1973 – with children 6 and under admitted free. There are still discounted tickets online – go to www.WFJuly4th.com – or at these locations – all at five tickets for $20:
- Wake Forest Area Chamber of Commerce, 305 South White Street
- The Wake Forest Weekly, 229 East Owen Avenue
- Aloha Tan, 12223 Hampton Way Drive
- All About Hair & Nails, 12223 Hampton Way Drive
- Town & Country Hardware at Gateway Commons, 910 Gateway Commons Circle
- NC General Stores, 150 South White Street
- For Old Times Sake Antiques, 223 South White Street
- Wake Forest Renaissance Centre, 405 Brooks Street
The stadium gates open at 5:30 p.m. The fireworks display usually begins at dusk, but there if no official start time.
The Band of Oz, one of the southeast’s most popular beach music bands and a 1997 Beach Music Hall of Fame inductee, will again headline this year’s celebration. Other highlights will include Don Carrington’s Parachute Team.
Food, including hamburgers, hot dogs, popcorn, and snow cones, will be available at the concession stand staffed by Fourth of July volunteers, and a variety of food trucks will also be on site.
Picnic baskets and/or coolers are allowed but will be inspected before being permitted inside the stadium. Alcoholic beverages are strictly prohibited on the Wake Forest High School campus.
Handicap parking (by identification only) and regular parking are available on the school campus. Families may tailgate in the parking lot, but everyone who enters the school campus must be a paying spectator.
Get a good night’s sleep when you get home after the show and fireworks because there is a busy day ahead. Lineup for the children’s parade begins at 10 a.m. on North Main Street in front of the Calvin Jones House. The parade sets out about 10:30. Children on foot and bicycles, parents, grandparents and dogs all make their way down the street, around the campus to Holding Park for Art-in-the-Park and Games-in-the-Park. This year there will also be several inflatables at the next-door R.H. Forrest ball field.
There will still be time later that day to grill some hot dogs and eat some watermelon with the contented feeling you have again (or for the first time) been part of a Wake Forest tradition that defines it as a small town no matter how many new people we continue to embrace.
One Response
The highlight of my summer for the past 20 years has been visiting Greg and Diane Harrington to share in the festivities. Thank you to all committee folks and volunteers for the hard work that goes into making this a fantastic family tradition.