Families, vendors and plenty of familiar faces gathered around the rec football field at Bryan Park at the Oglethorpe County Rec Department’s biggest Fourth of July celebration yet.
Families, vendors and plenty of familiar faces gathered around the rec football field at Bryan Park at the Oglethorpe County Rec Department’s biggest Fourth of July celebration yet.
Vendors’ tents and trucks surrounded the perimeter of the field last Thursday. Some of this year’s 34 attractions included food trucks, bounce houses, local arts and even a dunk tank for the Arnoldsville Volunteer Fire Department.
Rec Department director Michael White said 34 vendors signed up, the most in the six years of the celebration. The previous high was 20, and the 2023 event had only 18. White said he thinks the increase in vendors is due in part to more new businesses popping up around the county.
“Seeing the community come, I guess that’s just the biggest thing for me,” he said. “When we started it, we just didn’t know how many would come, if anybody would come, or how successful it would be.”
White estimated 2,000 people attended the celebration at Bryan Park, which he said is the only park in the county that could hold an event that size. White, a lifelong Oglethorpe County resident, said he appreciates that the park still feels safe, even with such a big crowd.
“It’s good after so many years that it still has the same feeling as it did when we were kids,” he said. “I have a 9-year-old, and I don’t want to have to worry about him running around, what he’s getting into and who he’s around, and that kind of stuff, and we just don’t.”
While the Rec Department handles the vendors, American Legion Post 123 is in charge of the fireworks. Most of the fireworks budget comes from the Legion, with the county chipping in as well.
The fireworks cost $2,300 this year.
The Sons of the American Legion (SAL) and the American Legion Auxiliary each had tents set up at the celebration. George Gray, adjutant for the SAL chapter, works with the Rec Department to put on the event.
Gray said the celebration is part of how the Legion honors one of its four pillars: community. Like White, he said it feels good to see the community involvement in the celebration grow over the past six years.
“It’s wonderful,” he said. “I think the first year, Mike (White) had done about 1,000 hot dogs over there, and in the first 20 minutes basically they were gone. The crowd was much larger than we expected.”
Aside from the fireworks, Legion commander Carol Eidson said the celebration is a “way to share with the community” and to promote the Legion’s message of Americanism and supporting veterans.
“A lot of people, they just want to see the fireworks,” she said. “Hopefully, we help them understand the significance of the day and teach the kids coming up the significance of the day, and it’s not just, ‘Hey let’s go watch some fireworks.’ ”