Annual fireworks shows planned for Fourth of July

By Chivaun Perez/reporter

TIFTON July 01, 2008 10:20 pm

— Fireworks, food and local entertainment will be provided all day Friday at the Georgia Agrirama Museum of Agriculture and Historic Village during the annual July Fourth Celebrations.
The Agrirama gates will open at 10 a.m. with free admission for a day of games and contests until 6 p.m.
Activities will include sack races, wheelbarrow races, a spelling bee, fire brigade, greased pole climbing, crosscut sawing, three-legged races, watermelon eating and seed spitting. There will also be train rides all day for $2.
Barbecue chicken plates by “Chef Tyron” Spearman are available from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Museum of Agriculture for $6 a plate. Plenty of other food will be available at the Agrirama’s concessions with hamburgers, hot dogs, funnel cakes, snow cones and more.
A concert will kick off at 6 p.m. at the Wiregrass Opry with local talents Kirsten Underwood and the East Beach Blues Band.
Politicians will be joining the celebration to give everyone a chance to get to know the candidates for the upcoming 2008 election. They will be at the Opry Shelter manning their booths from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
A fireworks display, courtesy of City of Tifton, Tift County, and local businesses, will begin at 9:30 p.m.
Paulk Park in Fitzgerald will also be having a free festival and fireworks show. The celebrations will begin at 4 p.m., and from 4 to 5 p.m. free hot dogs, chips and cold drinks will be served.
Activities will kick off at 4:30 p.m. with a watermelon eating contest. There will also be a buried treasure hunt.
Local bands, Pop Shop, Full House, and Soulshine will perform at 6 p.m. and there will be an acrobatic show at 8 p.m.
Free candy and flags will be given out all day as they last. The fireworks will begin at 9:15 p.m.
Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., Reed Bingham State Park in Adel will have a “Celebrate America” event in honor of the Fourth of July with a full day of fun.
Activities will include pontoon boat rides, live music, animal programs and a watermelon-eating contest. They will finish the night with a fireworks show over the lake.
Admission is $5 per vehicle and $1-2 for boat rides.