‘United We Stand’ theme of Fourth in Ellijay

Food, fun, music, a parade and fireworks will once again be on tap for Ellijay’s annual Fourth of July celebration this Friday. Festivities get underway at 2 p.m. in the parking lot of First Baptist Church, and downtown merchants will also have their doormats out in hopes of a bustling business day.

Mother Nature may help out all-around. The Weather Service forecast on Monday was 90 degrees for a high on Friday and just 21 percent chance of rain — without thunderstorms.

Pam Burns, the committee chair for Engage in Gilmer that organizes the Fourth of July event, reported vendors in First Baptist Church parking lot between Dalton Street and North Main Street will be set up to sell at 2 p.m. 

“I was in the parking lot last year, and noticed a lot of people didn’t even come out until around 3 (p.m.),” she said. “So I said let’s give the vendors a break and start letting them start setting up around noon and then stay till after the fireworks.”

Vendors, music

Vendors include food trucks, arts and crafts booths, face painting and a “jumpy house” for kids. Engage in Gilmer is seeking musicians who will consider playing for free, especially those who perform monthly at the Acoustic Blends live music event at Gilmer Arts. Burns said she can be contacted about performing at 479-567-9809. 

Orchard Church will be set up on the courthouse steps to play patriotic music later in the afternoon, and at 7 p.m. Lica Simons is going to sing the national anthem. Traditionally, the Declaration of Independence is also read over the public address system. 

Parade

The Fourth of July Parade gets underway at 7:30 p.m. — there’s still time to enter — with a three-volley musket discharge by members of the local Sons of Confederate Veterans camp to kick it off. New elements in the parade this year — with a theme of “United We Stand” — include the Gilmer Arts Theater with a first-ever float, and kids who will be performing in an upcoming play will be in costume, said Burns. Horses and riders will bring up the end of the parade that starts on Sailors Drive, comes up River Street and wraps around the square before heading up North Main. 

Local civic leader Josh Chancey will serve as Grand Marshal. Earlier this year, Chancey was awarded “Kentucky Colonel” status, and the Edward Jones financial advisor is also a leader in the First Books program and Kiwanis Club of Gilmer County.

“We’ve asked people to make ‘United We Stand’ the theme of their floats, and the one who achieves that the most will win first place,” said Burns. “It will be announced from the courthouse steps.”

To register for the parade as an individual, organization or commercial entry, go online to: https://www.eventeny.com/events/united-we-stand-4th-of-july-20964/.

Police Chief Edward Lacey stated in an email to the Times-Courier that only registered vehicles and floats are allowed to participate, and that parade lineup is at 5:30 p.m. Fireworks will be launched at dark from behind the old Ellijay Primary School building on McCutchen Street, he added.

Volunteers needed

“When our four-volunteer committee got together we talked about the political atmosphere that’s going on right now, and how ultimately the United States started in 1776 — this is the 249th year — and the theme for our country should still be ‘United We Stand,” Burns explained. “Our committee can always use more volunteers. I don’t know if everyone knows this, but we get compared a lot to Ball Ground and Jasper and other places. And I don’t think anyone knows that our parade is (organized by) four volunteers. We’re all open arms for any volunteers.”