Portraying Uncle Sam can be hot, hard work, and this year there will be two men sharing the job. Town Commissioner and retired police chief Greg Harrington will be on duty for the stadium and fireworks show on Thursday night, July 3, while Bill Brown will be in the Children’s Parade and at the activities in Holding Park on Friday, July 4.
Miss Liberty will be portrayed, as she has been for the four decades, by Bonnie Johnson – and she will be in character and on display both days.
This year’s Fourth of July celebration is shaping up to be as much fun and as memorable as ever.
The volunteer committee could still use more volunteers – just send your name to Chairman Rhonda Alderman at www.fireworklady.com or go to wfjuly4th@aol.com if you can lend a hand with ticket sales or concessions. And of course more contributions toward the expenses will be appreciated.
The two-day event begins Thursday night with the stadium and fireworks show in Trentini Stadium on the Wake Forest High School campus on Stadium Drive. The gates will open at 5:30 p.m. Parking is available on the school grounds and nearby designated areas.
The Band of Oz, the perennial favorite, will take the stage at 6:30 p.m. after performances by the Apples and Airplanes Band and the Friendship Chapel Choir. Don Carrington’s Skydive Team will drop in at some point.
Mayor Vivian Jones will welcome the crowd during intermission. Dr. Daniel Akin, the president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, will provide the invocation. Kaitlin Webb, who just graduated from Heritage High School, will sing the National Anthem, and Sgt. Zack Arguilez with the United States Army Reserve will lead the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance.
The fireworks show promises to be bigger and better than ever.
Admission is $5 with children 6 and younger admitted free. You must use cash at the gate and at the concession stand. Tickets are available now, five tickets for $20, at The Wake Forest Weekly newspaper office, Wake Forest Area Chamber of Commerce, NC General Stores, For Old Times Sake Antiques, All About Hair and Nails, Aloha Tan and the Town & Country Hardware in Gateway Commons.
Alcoholic beverages, smoking and pets are not allowed on the school property. You may set up lawn chairs on the concrete areas inside the stadium; only blankets are allowed on the rubberized track surface. Baskets and coolers will be inspected before they are allowed inside the stadium.
The next morning, July 4, children, parents and pets will line up beginning at 10 a.m. at the intersection of North Main Street and Juniper Avenue near the Wake Forest College Birthplace and Historical Museum.
Everything about the Children’s Parade is free, including the balloons and the later activities in Holding Park.
The parade will wend down North Main Street and then around the seminary campus to end at Holding Park where there will be Art-in-the-Park and Games-in-the-Park from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Children will be able to create a variety of arts and crafts projects while the games include sack races, a watermelon seed-spitting contest and a pie eating contest.
The Fourth of July Celebration is – and always has been – a volunteer-only organization which relies on the gate receipts from the previous year, a contribution from the Town of Wake Forest and generous donations and contributions from local individuals and businesses.
The Town of Wake Forest provides information about the events, including maps of the festivities and a smart phone application for the latest updates. Visit www.wakeforestnc.gov/july4.aspx.
Wake Forest Town Hall will be closed on Friday, July 4, and the Wake Forest bus service – the Wake Forest to Raleigh express service and the Wake Forest Loop – will not be provided on Friday but both will resume normal schedules on Monday, July 7.
Garbage and recycling collection will remain the same as usual Monday through Thursday, but Friday’s collection will be done on Saturday, July 5.
