As the crack of fireworks echoed throughout Holmes Harbor, the crowd ooh’ed and aah’ed at the rainbow of colors that lit up the Sunday night sky. For 20 bombastic minutes, the fireworks show grasped everyone’s attention until its final bang, bringing to an end the 22nd Celebrate America event in Freeland.
The eight-hour event, held at Freeland Park and put on by South Whidbey Assembly of God, still managed to bring out hundreds of returning festival-goers after two decades of celebrations.
“It’s always a lot of fun for the kids,” Clinton resident Jared Russell said. “We keep coming back every year. This is our tenth time out here to celebrate Independence Day.”
What started as a day-before celebration due to barges — used as a fireworks platform — regularly being fully booked for the Fourth of July, Celebrate America has become a mainstay on South Whidbey, pastor Matt Chambers from South Whidbey Assembly of God said. According to Chambers, his church continues to put on the event as a way to regularly give back to the community and bring it together. When it was created 22 years ago, the church simply wanted to give the South End community the fireworks display it didn’t have.
“We started it some two decades ago when there was no public firework display, so we thought it would be nice to supply that for our neighborhood,” Chambers said. “The rest has just fallen into place.”
With the celebration tipping off at 3 p.m., plenty of entertainment kept the crowd occupied on the main stage. Cranberry Bog Bluegrass Band kicked things off with their twangy harmonies and solos. Seattle-based Gospel a cappella group Straighter Road also brought their vocal harmonies to the stage, with ‘80s hair metal tribute group Hair Nation capping things off with a show for the parents in the crowd. Kids and parents alike ran to the front of the stage to pump their fists and head bang to classics such as Scorpions’ “Rock you like a hurricane.”
The crowd-pulling show of the night was the 45-minute show put on by Zoologist Scott Petersen, also known as “The Reptile Man.” Kids’ jaws dropped at the sight of snakes, alligators and other scaled creatures, and were able to hold and pet the animals after the show.
Elsewhere on the festival grounds, an inflatable bouncy house gave kids the opportunity to work off some of their cotton candy-induced sugar rushes. There was plenty of room for kids to run off the rest of that energy, as sections of Shoreview Drive and Stewart Street were closed off to cars.
“The kids get to run around and play and I get to watch the fireworks at the end — everybody is having a good time,” Russell said.
Despite all the commotion and entertainment, festival goers were quick to point out the reasons behind the celebrations. For Coupeville resident Steve Hoffmire, Independence Day is all about family, particularly remembering family members who served in the military in the past.
“My dad is a World War II vet, and most people in my family have been in the military,” Hoffmire said. “It’s all about realizing how blessed we are to live in this country.”
Russell added that it doesn’t matter where one stands politically. He says people from all sides come together to celebrate the sacrifice that got the country where it is today.
“We are able to worship the way we worship and live the way we live because men of conviction stood in the face of tyranny and did something about it,” Russell said. “These are real people with real families.”
