June 20, 2007

Published in Wake Forest, NC

            There was a children’s parade with fire trucks, decorated bicycles and horses along South White Street. We then trooped over to the large field that is now the site for the Wake Forest Boys & Girls Club for a track meet for youngsters, a $20 bill atop a greased pole and a greased pig free-for-all. Some of these events were never repeated, for some very good reasons, and the parade was moved to shady North Main Street the next year.

            Bill Shearon, Ricky Timberlake and a group of closet pyromaniacs took the $400 businesses and people donated, found a “secret” location and put together a fireworks show that thrilled the crowd in the old football stadium.

            Ever since, Wake Forest’s Fourth celebration has continued as an all-volunteer, patriotic, family-focused, if-you-think-of-a-good-idea, you’re-the chairman event.           

            Patriotism was the theme for the special fireworks shows in the early years. Those included

·          A to-scale ship with masts, sails and shape outlined in fireworks that “sailed” half the length of the football field to re-enact the battle of Fort McHenry during the War of 1812. Francis Scott Key, who watched from a ship in Baltimore harbor, was inspired to write “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

·          A life-sized, 28-foot fireworks replica of the spaceship Columbia and its capsule, Eagle, that put the first men on the moon. The show included its take-off from earth (rising 65 feet in the air), the tricky separation of ship and capsule, and the final landing on the moon. Shearon had been able to get tapes of the ground controllers and astronauts as the told the story of “one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind.”

            Safety requirements, old age and moves have scaled back some of the fireworks show but not much, and the shows have continued to thrill the stadium audience year after year. S&W Productions will again choreograph and present the fireworks show.

            This year’s stadium show will be one you do not want to miss, Fourth chairman Rhonda Alderman said.

            “I'm very excited to have the Pipes and Drum Band from Wake EMS come to perform as well as having their honor guard, along with the Wake Forest Fire Department.  I encourage everyone to come out and see the special intermission show that is being planned by these groups as well as hearing the National Anthem sung by Robert Davis, a deputy from the Wake County Sheriff's Department.  This will be a most impressive show.”

            The celebration will span two days with the stadium and fireworks show on Tuesday, July 3, and the Children’s Parade, Art-in-the-Park and Games-in-the-Park Wednesday, July 4.

            The gates at Trentini Stadium on the Wake Forest-Rolesville High School campus will open at 5:30 on July 3. Admission is $5, and children 6 and younger are admitted free. You can purchase pre-event tickets at the Wake Forest Chamber of Commerce, The Wake Weekly, The Red Door, Premieres Video, N. C. Specialty Shops, Lighthouse Candles & Fine Gifts and Full Moor Italian Café.

            Deep Magic Joshua Lozoff will entertain the children with his close-up magic from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

            The Band of Oz will be on stage, and parachutists from the Southern Skies Parachute Team will land in the stadium.

            Also taking the stage will be the Friendship Chapel Baptist Church Choir, the Pipes and Drum Band from Wake County EMS, honor guards from Wake County EMS and the Wake Forest Fire Department, Robert Davis with the Wake County Sheriff’s Department singing the National Anthem, and Jim Dyer as master of ceremonies.

            Lady Liberty and Uncle Sam will retire the American flag before the fireworks begin at dusk.

            Lineup for the Children’s Parade begins at 10 a.m. at the intersection of North Main Street and West Juniper Avenue with the parade scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. It is walking parade but battery-operated vehicles, wagons, bicycles and scooters are welcome. Everyone in the parade will get a balloon.

            There will be a best-costume contest, and the selected boy and girl will each receive a $25 savings bond given by the Wake Forest Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8466.

            The games and art will be held in Holding Park on East Owen Avenue and South Main Street from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

            The games will include a tug-of-war, a water balloon toss, watermelon-seed spitting, and sack races.

            Alderman said one of the Wake Forest Police Department’s K-9 dogs will give a demonstration, and the Wake Forest Fire Department will have a fire truck on site.

            There will be face painting, sun visor decorating, cookie decorating and other arts and crafts projects.

            The police department will also be helping parents with child identification kits at the Community House.

            All of this costs between $25,000 and $30,000, raised through the gate receipts and sponsorships to pay for the stadium rental, fireworks, band, parachuters and prizes.

            If you want to help with the event or with the costs, you can reach Alderman at 812-9121 or at fireworklady@aol.com.