The 4th of July returns
Fireworks light up the sky over the Norris Commons in this view from in front of the Norris Post Office on Saturday night, July 3. The fireworks capped off a day of fun, food and games during Saturday’s Norris Day celebration sponsored by the Norris Lions Club. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
More than 2,000 people – including kids of all ages – were estimated to have shown up throughout the daylong celebration on Norris Square in front of Norris Middle School, and many of them even brought their dogs along to participate in the quite popular kids’ dog show.
Norris Chief of Police Mike Poole said the event went very smoothly, with everyone seeming to be having fun, and that the perfect weather – partly cloudy with temperatures in the high 70s – added to the enjoyment.
The day kicked off with early morning road and fun runs, followed by the perhaps most delightful event of the day, the dog show, and then such fun pursuits as the kids’ bike and many-wheel races, decorated tricycle parades, sack races, water-balloon battles, duck races, water slides, and more.
Various community groups had booths and tents set up selling food, painting faces, handing out information and just generally joining in the fun.
Norris Fire Department volunteers spent the day grilling hot dogs and burgers for sale at the department’s booth, and handing out junior fire helmets to the kids.
The Lions Club offered a lunch featuring barbecued pork sandwiches in the Norris Middle School cafeteria, and various other food offerings were available from booths along Norris Square – including fresh baked goods from local churches, including St. Francis Episcopal.
Yellow plastic ducks starred in the duck races, which attracted lots of participants, with the person sponsoring the winning duck in each race getting a watermelon as a prize.
Capping off the evening from the Commons area was the fireworks show that Chief Poole called “spectacular.”
Hundreds of cars lined the streets and filled parking lots as people came out to watch the fireworks show, which began just after dark. It, too, was welcomed back by the crowds after being canceled last year.
Norris Day has been held annually for several decades to celebrate the founding of the planned community of Norris, which was created by the Tennessee Valley Authority in 1933 as the federal utility began work on its first flood control/hydroelectric power dam in the Tennessee Valley.
Norris Dam, which was completed in 1936, formed the nearby Norris Lake.