Spectacular 4th in Ashland fostered sense of community

To The Daily Sun,

The Ashland Independence Day festivities showed, once again, the importance of a community. The 4th of July Committee is humbled, proud, and thankful for the outstanding outreach and participation of the entire community.

Where do we begin? First, we were blessed from above with perfect weather, hot and dry with a gentle breeze. The Ashland 4th of July festivities are funded by the work of volunteers raising the cost of the two day event, no town tax dollars are used except for police and fire department coverage. Supportive businesses and individuals purchase ads in our program, buy banners, and make donations. The Common Man hosts the "Uncle Al's Pancake Breakfast", one of our main fundraising events and sponsors the 50/50 raffle.. The Kirby family and Freudenberg allow us the use of their parking lots. The Ashland Baptist Church provided volunteers for parking and hosted a benefit cook out on the 4th.

The Ashland Fire Department provided EMS services and were in charge of overseeing the fireworks. The Ashland Police Department kept the traffic organized and flowing. The Ashland Department of Public Works made sure the park was mowed and trash barrels were provided. (and the crowd was one of the cleanest crowds ever) The Ashland Elementary School hosted the site where the amazing fireworks by Atlas were shot from.

Bright and early the next morning, volunteers cleaned the field at the school of any leftover debris while other volunteers were at the ballpark before 6 am to pick up any leftover trash from the fireworks guests. We also appreciate the support of the Town and the Park and Rec facilities at the ballpark. Truly a team effort.

Celebrating our nation's birth went off without a hitch, and we had lots of praise over the variety of the new food truck format, the kids loved the reasonably priced bouncy houses, the free kids games and to top it off, the music that played while the fireworks boomed and lit up the sky.

We have begun work on the 2020 firework celebration and always welcome new members who would like to volunteer with us. We meet monthly and our meetings are posted on the town website. Come join us! We also welcome your input.

Again, our deepest thanks to the greater Ashland Community for all your support.

Fran Wendelboe, Chair

Ashland 4th of July Committee