Boom Towns
Communities to celebrate July 4 with fireworks, fun runs, anvil blasts
Doing their part to help celebrate Indpendence Day in Clinton, Joe and Nancy Harper have organized a golf-cart parade to run through the Mariner Point community, be- ginning at the Anderson County Senior Center on Mariner Point Drive. No politics will be allowed in their parade, they said. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
Clinton: Lakefront Park — Family friendly activities begin at 5 p.m. Fireworks are scheduled to begin at 10 p.m.
Norris: Norris Day activities begin at 8:30 a.m. with the Firecracker 4K and 1K fun run/walk; Family friendly activities all-day long; fireworks begin at 10 p.m. near the Commons area.
Rocky top: Car show at George Templin Memorial Ballfield from 9 to 11:30 a.m., Kids’ Bicycle Parade, 4:45 p.m., Family-friendly activities at city park and music, 5 p.m., Fireworks begin at 10 p.m.
Oak Ridge: A.K. Bissell Park — Oak Ridge Community Band, 7 p.m.; Fireworks begin at 9:45 p.m.
Communities, museums and even neighborhoods throughout the area are gearing up for this year’s Independence Day celebration on July 4, with the highlight of the day’s activities to be fireworks displays for some.
The Museum of Appalachia will again go all-out for the day with its annual celebration, which includes a variety of activities, including the traditional “old-fashioned anvil shoots.”
They aren’t fireworks, but they do make a lot of noise.
The museum uses a pile of gunpowder to blast a 200-pound iron blacksmith’s anvil hundreds of feet into the air, with a crowd looking on from a safe distance.
Anvil shoots will be held at the top of every hour from 10 a.m. through 3 p.m., to highlight the July 4 activities at the pioneer museum in Norris.
Clinton, Norris, Rocky Top and Oak Ridge have their own celebrations planned, and each of them will be capped off by a fireworks show.
Even the Mariner Point subdivision off Oak Ridge Highway in Clinton will be getting into the action – not with fireworks, but with a special golf-cart parade throughout the neighborhood.
Residents Joe and Nancy Harper have organized the parade, which will begin at 10 a.m. at the Anderson County Senior Center, which is just inside the entrance to the community.
“We decided it would be a good idea to have a golf-cart parade, because that’s how most people get around in the neighborhood,” Joe Harper told The Courier News.
“We will meet at 9:30 a.m. at the Senior Center to get lined up,” he said. “Some of the carts have sound bars, and they will be blasting out patriotic music.”
The Harpers have one strict rule for the parade, however: “No politics,” Joe Harper said.
At age 91, Joe Harper is an FAA-licensed drone pilot, and might even have a drone up watching over the parade.
In Norris, the events begin at 8:30 a.m., the start time for the Firecracker 4K and 1K fun runs that kick off the community’s annual “Norris Day” activities.
For Norris, it’s a particularly special time as the city that owes its existence to the creation of the nearby Norris Dam by the federal government – the first dam in the entire Tennessee Valley Authority system. It was completed and put into service in 1936.
The event concludes with fireworks shot from the Commons area just after dark.
In Clinton, the July 4 celebration begins at 5 p.m. at Lakefront Park. There will be inflatables for kids, a petting zoo, ax throwing, a game truck and more.
The fireworks will be at 10 p.m. just across the Clinch River from Lakefront Park.
Oak Ridge will host a free concert at 7:30 p.m. at A.K. Bissell Park, followed by fireworks around 9:45 p.m.
In Rocky Top, the July 4 activities will kick off with a collector car show from 9 to 11:30 a.m. at the George Templin Memorial Ballfield.
There will be a children’s bicycle parade beginning at 4:45 p.m. from the parking lot of Truist Bank on South Main Street, followed by a celebration beginning at 5 p.m. at the city park that will include a free concert.
Rocky Top’s celebration concludes with fireworks at 10 p.m.
Norris Day begins with the Firecracker 4K and 1K fun runs at 8:30 a.m. in the town’s Commons area.
Other events will include Posting of the Colors, 9 a.m.; Norris Library Chalk Walk, 9 a.m.-2 p.m.; kids’ dog show, 9:10 a.m.; duck races, 9:45 a.m.; decorated bicycle parade, 10:30 a.m.; many-wheeled races, 11:15 a.m.; sack races, 11:45 a.m.; water balloon toss, 12:15 p.m.; and water balloon battles, 3 p.m.
There will be an evening program at the Lions Club Pavilion behind the post office beginning at 5:30 p.m.
A free evening concert will be presented by “110 in the Shade,” a six-member group performing electric, funk, soul, Motown, and R&B numbers, from 7-9 p.m. on the outdoor stage next to the Lions Club Pavilion downtown.
This will be the last of the “Concerts on the Commons” this year.
There is no admission charge to any of these events, but concert attendees are requested to bring their own chairs or blankets to sit on in the grassy area in front of the stage, next to the pavilion.
Food will also be available from food trucks throughout the day, and there will be inflatables set up for the kids from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., as well as a water slide from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The concert will be followed by a fireworks display.
