Whitewater’s free family festival set for July 3-5
The annual Fourth of July Free Family Festival is set for July 3-5 at Cravath Lakefront Park, 312 Whitewater St. in Whitewater. This year’s theme is “Flying High Over the Fourth of July.”
“We’re honoring all aviators from all branches of the service,” said Jean Mills, festival co-chairperson.
Local sponsors pay for everything at the festival including numerous Whitewater small business owners.
“If you’re broke you can still come to the festival,” Mills said. “You can pack your own lunch, which isn’t discouraged, and spend the whole day without spending a dime, because of our generous sponsors.”
The festival features a parade, fireworks, car show, numerous musical acts and, now in its third year, the Miss Whitewater Pageant which opens the festivities at 5 p.m. on July 3.
“It’s doubled in size this year,” said Mills. “And in keeping with our theme, all the money raised at the pageant this year will go to the Honor Flight program.”
The American Legion Beer Tent, food vendors, music and the Christman Amusement carnival on the midway will be open all three days.
Fireworks displays are scheduled for July 4 and July 5 over Cravath Lake at 10 p.m.
“I spent twice as much money on the fireworks this year than in the past,” said Mills. “We had some sponsors who came forward who wanted better fireworks and donated a lot of money – Colburn and Co., DLK Enterprises and the City of Whitewater really came through for us.”
Military Family Day
One of the new features at this year’s event is the addition of Military Family Day on July 5.
“Military Family Day is Saturday. This is normally our Kids day, so we have a ton of free activities already going on,” said Mills. “Madison Rising, which bills itself at the most patriotic rock band is performing and we got the carnival to sponsor wrist bands for $10 for the military family members from noon to 4 p.m. All they have to do is show their military ID.”
Parade
The Fourth of July Parade is always a big draw for the festival. In keeping with the “Flying High” theme, Iraq War veteran and helicopter pilot Calvin Tomoitsu is serving as the grand marshal for 2014.
“We have a marching band coming from New Jersey called Jersey Surf, 150 marchers are coming,” said Mills. “They’re coming for the drum and bugle corps that weekend and they entered the parade, which is a big deal for us.”
The parade is organized by The Whitewater Lions Club and steps off at 10 a.m. on July 4 at Lincoln School on Prince Street, travels to Main Street, then on to Whitewater Street, ending at Fremont Street.
Car show
The 30th annual Whitewater Car Show is from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on July 4. The event is held at 312 Whitewater St.
The show has 17 classes with first, second and third place prizes, plus Best of Show. Registration and judging is held from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Trophies will be awarded at 3 p.m.
“It’s grown quite a bit, last year we had about 70 cars entered,” said Mills.
Vehicles to see include original and restored cars, street machines, street rods, Corvettes, 4x4s, lowriders, custom and leadsleds, trucks, vans and motorcycles (foreign and domestic).
Food vendors
Mills, who co-chairs the event with Blake Scharine said she fundraises for the celebration every year because 90 percent of the money raised by the non-profit food vendors goes back to the charity manning the booth.
“It’s a fundraiser for the services groups,” Mills said. “We have 12 service groups where this is the biggest fundraiser of the year for them.
“They put in a lot of effort to set up, maintain and staff a food booth over the weekend,” she continued.
All food and beverage purchases are handled with tickets (festival dollars), which can be purchased at information/ticket booths in $.50 increments and/or sheets of $10 increments.
This year’s participants include the American Legion, First United Methodist Church, Knights of Columbus, Whitewater Optimist Club, Whitewater Lions Club, Whitewater Lioness Club, Congregational UCC, Whitewater Youth Soccer, Cristo La Roca, St. Patricks Hispanic Ministry, and Living Savior Lutheran Church.
For additional details, visit www.ww4th.com.
