It’s all about the holiday in Rockingham County this weekend

By Miranda Baines

Published: July 2, 2008

Lake Reidsville Fourth of July Celebration

Lake Reidsville is gearing up for a special Fourth of July celebration this weekend. The celebration is one of the events to commemorate Lake Reidsville Recreation Park’s 25th anniversary.

The musical headliner at the Fourth of July celebration, Chairmen of the Board, will begin playing at about 8:45 p.m. after their warm-up band, The Executives, gets the crowd pumped up.

“We know that they have a loyal following. They’ve been in the business for a while and they perform good music,“ said Harry Brown, Reidsville’s director of parks and recreation. Brown anticipates Chairmen of the Board will draw a large crowd to Lake Reidsville.

“We average between 8,000 and 9,000 folks,“ he said. “We’re expecting this year it will be even bigger.“

Chairmen of the Board started playing beach music and rhythm and blues in 1967, and still delights audiences today.

The group’s single written by General Johnson, “Give Me Just a Little More Time,“ made it to No. 3 on the U.S. Hot 100 chart and sold more than one million copies. Some of the group’s other hits are “You’ve Got Me Dangling on a String,“ “Pay to the Piper” and “Finders Keepers.“

“They have a tremendous following,“ Penn House coordinator Judy Yarbrough said. She said the city is putting up a dance floor at the Lake Reidsville amphitheater for the people coming to shag dance to the beach music.

The entertainment at the Lake Reidsville amphitheater will begin at 5:30 p.m., when The Honky Tonk Dancers, a group from the Reidsville Senior Citizens Center, will take the stage. Next up at 6:30 p.m. is Total Silence, a rhythm and blues, jazz and contemporary gospel group from the Triad.

Gates will open at 2 p.m. Friday for the carnival, which has inflatables and rides for the children. A variety of concessions, including barbecue and funnel cakes, will be sold.

The culmination of Friday’s Fourth of July celebration will be a 30- to 40-minute fireworks display by Zambelli’s of Philadelphia. Brown said Zambelli’s puts together fireworks displays at major events across the country. Friday’s fireworks display will begin at about 10 p.m.

If you can’t make it out to Lake Reidsville on Friday, go Saturday. The celebration will continue with live music provided by Songbear Productions from 3 to 9 p.m. Concessions will be sold.

“We’re looking forward to the entire weekend, and we want to encourage people to come out,“ Brown said.

He said the city is working to make this year’s Fourth of July celebration “bigger and better” to give people an opportunity to celebrate the holiday in their hometown. Brown predicts fewer people will travel this holiday weekend because of the high gas prices.

Admission to Friday’s celebration is $5 per vehicle or $2 per person for walk-ins. Lake Reidsville will charge regular gate fees for Saturday’s celebration ($1 per vehicle for city residents and $2 per vehicle for non-city residents). Coolers and pets are not allowed at the Fourth of July celebrations at the lake. Lake Reidsville is at 630 Waterworks Road.

Eden Ole Fashion 4th of July Celebration

Eden Kiwanis’ Ole Fashion 4th of July Celebration will offer entertainment, fireworks and fun activities.

The Holiday Band will perform their award winning beach music from 7 to 10 p.m.

“They’re one of the premier bands in the beach music industry,“ said Kenny Kirkman, who booked the band. “I’d put them in the top five.“

The Holiday Band was formed in 1991 in Burlington. The band blends soul, blues, funk and Carolina Beach music. The party and dance band has recently released its first studio CD in three years, “Got it Bad for You.“

Kirkman said The Holiday Band entertained the crowd at last year’s Ole Fashion 4th of July celebration as well.

“The crowd response was terrific,“ he said.

Several shag clubs in the area have expressed an interest in shagging to The Holiday Band’s beach music at the Fourth of July celebration, so Kirkman anticipates a large crowd.

“This is going to be a good year. We have three good bands,“ said Wayne Kirkman, chairman of the Eden Kiwanis.

The Calabash Blues Boogie Band will entertain the crowd from 2 to 3:30 p.m. and Kenny Grubbs & The Bullet Band will take the stage from 4 to 6 p.m.

The celebration will culminate with a fireworks display by Hale Artificier Inc. of High Point. The fireworks display will begin between 10 and 10:30 p.m. and last about 30 minutes, according to Kirkman.

“It’ll be a big show,“ he said. “We usually have 10,000 to 15,000 people in the area (watching the fireworks). People pack the streets in that area.“

Gates open at noon on Friday at the Morehead High School football stadium. Admission is free. The fun will include a horseshoe-throwing contest at 1 p.m., beach bingo, carnival rides by FunTime and concessions (cotton candy, Sno Cones, lemonade, funnel cakes and blooming onions). Kirkman encourages everyone to come out to the celebration and bring their lawn chairs.

He was a member of the Jaycees when the club started the Fourth of July celebration back in 1969. When the Jaycees became defunct, the Eden Kiwanis took over the planning of the event and have been in charge of it ever since.

“It’s sort of been tradition in Eden to have a big celebration on the Fourth of July, so we’re trying to carry on the tradition,“ Kirkman said.

Fun Fourth Parade

The Fairs will host the 13th Annual July 4th Fun Parade on Friday.

Meet in the parking lot at Fair Funeral Home at 8:45 a.m. The parade begins at 9:30 a.m.

The route goes through the neighborhood. U.S. Army specialist Travis Sigmon, who was wounded while serving in Iraq in June 2007, is the grand marshal for the parade.

“We’re so excited to have Travis and we want to honor him,“ Ann Fair said. To her, Sigmon is the epitome of what a July 4th grand marshal should be - someone who risked his life to serve his country.

“It really touches your heart,“ Fair said.

Last year, she said everybody who came to the parade signed a banner to send to Sigmon, so he was on their minds even then.

Fair’s daughter Alice invited Eden native Sigmon, who has become a local hero, to be the grand marshal at the parade. The Fairs started the July 4th Fun Parade when Alice was 5 and now she is 18. The parade started with just a few families in the neighborhood. Now the parade crowd is in the thousands.

The Fairs award prizes for the best decorations.

Fair said she saw the Walkers, who live on Highland Drive, decorating the outside of their home in preparation for the parade. She said the Walker family does something special every year. Last year they designed a “Tiki Girls” float and the year before that, they had a Christmas in July themed float.

“I’m just so impressed with everybody’s creativity,“ Fair said.

You never know who (or what) might show up at the parade dressed in their red, white and blue. Last year, The Tredways brought two llamas to the parade and received the “most unique” award.

The Fairs will treat everyone to watermelon after Friday morning’s parade. Fair Funeral Home is at 432 Boone Road in Eden.

First Thursday at Five

Because of the Fourth of July celebration at Lake Reidsville on Friday, the traditional First Friday at Five at The Gallery in downtown Reidsville will be held today. The Gallery will feature the “Unlocking Autistic Minds with Every Brush Stroke” exhibit by Virginia Kassay. The opening reception will begin at 5 p.m. and end at 9 p.m. at the Gallery at 217 S.W. Market St.

Take Two

Celebrate Independence Day at the N.C. State Fairgrounds in Raleigh. Fairground gates open at 2:30 p.m. Friday, and activities will begin at 3 p.m. Admission is free. Country music singer Holland Marie will perform at 7:30 p.m. at the main stage. The celebration will culminate with a fireworks display at 9:15 p.m. For more information, visit http://www.raleigh-nc.org/parks&rec.

Staff writer Miranda Baines can be reached at or 349-4331, ext. 35.