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boy has just left the Gellyball arena.
Hannah Styles
hstyles@thesmokymountaintimes.com
Swain County’s July 4th Freedom Fest was another smash hit this year with comparable numbers to last year despite the rain in the evening. Freedom Fest throughout the day sees about 7,000 people each year.
We all see the Firecracker 5K, Everett Street blocked off filled with visitors, food trucks, local artisans, and the grand finale of the day, the fireworks, but we don’t see all the months, days and hours of hard work put in by the community to make sure the event goes off with a bang.
Bryson City Police Department had all seven officers working day and night for Freedom Fest.
Officers stayed busy with an influx of people in town, traffic control, and foot patrol to keep everyone safe, while celebrating Independence Day. Swain County Sheriff’s Office had two deputies for traffic control during the Firecracker 5K Monday morning as well as officers patrolling throughout the day and night after the firework display.
Swain County Chamber of Commerce Director Karen Proctor, Chamber Board President Chris Royce, and volunteers arrived in town at 3:45 a.m. Monday morning to begin barricading roads and getting everything ready for vendors to arrive.
“I asked the food vendors, who take the longest to set up, to arrive between 5 and 6 a.m. that morning. Then, all other vendors arrived, and we set them up around the food vendors. A big part of planning that goes into Freedom Fest is logistics and how you don’t want to put two of the same vendors side by side because you want them all to make a profit and have a great day,” Proctor
explained. “This year we had gellyball back, which was a big hit last year and they also brought laser tag, which the kids seemed to enjoy.”
Although many visitors are drawn to Freedom Fest, the Chamber’s goal is to make the event positive for local businesses who call Bryson City home and set up the event with them in mind.
“Our main priority at Freedom Fest is to benefit the community and local businesses. A lot of the businesses downtown say that Freedom Fest is their biggest day of the year, and we have to make sure the walking paths are created to encourage people to stop inside the businesses, not just the booths,” Karen said.
With so many people downtown, there’s bound to be a lot of trash. This year, the chamber contracted help from Adam’s Landscaping and Lawn Care as well as had assistance from the town who placed two trash dump trucks for vendors to use.
Fireworks
The extensive firework display made possible by the Swain County Tourism and Development Authority takes around 8-9 hours to set up and has been produced by East Coast Pyrotechnics for over 30 years. This year, the show was again set off from Sossamon Airfield. Swain County Fire Marshall and Bryson City Fire Department were on the scene to make sure everything went safely.
“We arrived at 8:30 p.m. to wet down the grass and the surrounding area where they were launching the fireworks, and we maintained a presence throughout the night to make sure if there was an emergency we could take care of it quickly,” said Bryson City Fire Chief Charles Bryson.
When we’re enjoying our funnel cakes and fireworks it’s sometimes easy to forget the countless hours of work that went into making our holiday a memorable one.
Proctor said Freedom Fest is planned nearly a year in advance, and she will begin sending out vendor applications for next year’s festival in the next couple of weeks.
The Swain County Chamber of Commerce, Town of Bryson City, and Tourism Development Authority work together to make the event possible. Without local business support and donations, it would be very difficult to have Freedom Fest, Proctor said.
“We want to thank all our sponsors from the local community, businesses and groups,” she said. “We appreciate each and every one of you for helping make this event possible.”