The fireworks! The parade! The games! Yes, the Wake Forest Fourth of July celebration is on the horizon, and the people who volunteer each year to make it happen say they need some help.
They can always use volunteers – go to WFJuly4th@aol.com to sign up – but they also need the help of individuals and businesses to provide the contributions that buy the fireworks, the balloons, hire the bands and all the other necessary parts of a two-day event.
Rob Mitchell, president of the July 4th Committee, has sent out a letter asking for sponsors and patrons. For $15,000 you will have exclusive sponsorship of the fireworks show in Trentini Stadium with your business name in newspaper advertisements, in the program and 50 tickets to the fireworks show. For $5,000 you can have exclusive sponsorship of the live music show before the fireworks with the same advertising but 25 tickets to the event. The other levels are $1,000 as a major patron, $500 as a patron and $200 as a sponsor, but there is also a level for people who want to help but spend less. That is “Name your amount. All gifts will be appreciated.”
The deadline for the sponsors is June 1, and Mitchell is asking people to call him at 919-925-0375 or send an email to the address above.
This will be the 43rd year of the celebration, which has always been a total volunteer effort, from Uncle Sam to the attendants at the gates. The town has pledged $11,240, the same as last year, to cover the cost of protection and traffic control by the Wake Forest Police Department, but in other towns the celebration is totally sponsored by the town government.
Mitchell and his committee want the support from the community to make the 43rd year as much fun and as exciting as it has been in all the earlier years.
