[2007 Freedom Celebration promotion below, right]
The Devil may have gone down to Georgia but The Charlie Daniels Band is coming to New Albany.
The crossover artist known for his patriotism will headline a three-day expanded Freedom Celebration 2007 that will include gospel music, patriotism, other entertainment, worship and what is being billed as the largest fireworks show ever seen in the region. The event will culminate with the dedication of a patriotic plaza at the festival site.
The event will begin at the courthouse at 6 p.m. Friday, June 29, with a patriotic program. “We’re working with veterans’ groups to develop the program,” chairman Phil Nanney said. “There may be a parade and there will be a gospel concert with at least one nationally recognized group.” The organizers hope to have several well-known local veterans and perhaps some civil servants as grand marshals for the parade or other events.
Allen Garrison, who has been organizing and putting on the freedom celebration on his own for nearly 20 years, will be coordinating this event.
Saturday morning activities will include historical events at the civic center, museum activities, possibly an antique car parade and arts and crafts activities in the Park Along the River. Dance groups and other local talent will perform in the park until about 5 p.m.
At 6:30 p.m., a concert will begin at the new Freedom Plaza, which will be on the city-owned land across Hwy. 78 from the Sportsplex. The Paul Rainey Band will play and then Gravely presents The Charlie Daniels Band onstage.
After the concert will be what Nanney calls “the largest pyrotechnics display in five states.” It will consist of a computer-controlled display lasting about 25 minutes, accompanied by music and using more than 2,000 individual fireworks. “The largest will be 10 inches in diameter and fire 1,000 feet into the air,” Nanney said. The closing alone will involve more than 400 shells and there will be so much explosive power that the display will have to be kept and set off in a guarded, secured area under Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms regulations, he said.
The concluding day of the festival will be Sunday with a community church service at 4 p.m. at Freedom Plaza. “There will be 300 singers from combined churches,” Nanney said. “We will have a speaker and special musical guest, to be announced.” After the service the Freedom Plaza monument will be dedicated to all veterans and those on active duty.
The plaza will comprise a 50-foot base in the shape of a five-pointed star with an illuminating device at each point. In the center will be a 60-foot flagpole with a 15 by 25-foot flag.
Union Countians will be able to purchase engraved bricks or pavers in the star-shaped plaza as memorials or honoraria and Nanney said organizers plan to work with veterans groups on this also.
The event is being sponsored by the Freedom Celebration Committee, made up of Nanney, Mark Garrett, Mike Staten and Tim Kent. It is under the auspices of the Magnolia Civic Center and, indirectly, City of New Albany. “None of us is making a cent of this,” Nanney said; it is a civic event.
Nanney said Garrett, who he described as “Mr. Blow Up Anything,” is really the person responsible for the festival idea. Garrett said that each July 4 he does something for families in his McAlister’s and JME management group. This past year he took them to Redbird stadium where they gathered in the deck to watch the fireworks and other activities.
“ I thought, why can’t we do this at home?” Garrett said. “Why not invest at home?”
The idea grew from there as Garrett talked with Nanney and gradually developed the germ of an idea into the full-fledged community patriotic festival.
Now, McAlister’s and JME are two of the four corporate sponsors, plus the City of New Albany. Nanney and Garrett expected to announce the fourth this week.
Gov. Haley Barbour has committed to be here and Miss Mississippi and Miss Teen Mississippi will be guests as well.
“ We will have a web site, probably later this week,” Nanney said, “and we will be glad to visit any organization that wants us, anybody who wants information for a program.” He added that anyone interested can make arrangements for them to speak at a program through City Hall.
The only event with an admission fee will be the Charlie Daniels performance and fireworks display. “This will be a wristband event with the cost $15,” Nanney said. “We hope to have them available just about everywhere.” Special T-shirts will be available as well.
There also will be limited parking at the Sportsplex for a nominal fee. The concert will be strictly an outdoor event with no seating so those attending may want to bring blankets or lawn chairs.
“ We want the money from this one as seed money,” Garrett said. “If 20,000 people show up, that’s $300,000. We want this to be self-perpetuating and self-growing.”
The Charlie Daniels Band is a Gravely presentation. Fireworks will be by Pyrotechnico, a company started in New Castle, Conn. more than 100 years and which had done displays for professional sports, festivals and other public events all over the country.
The committee members said they are happy to do something for the community but want the community support as well. “We have had opportunities to buy things from outside New Albany,” he said, “but we prefer to work with and buy from people here.”
Similarly, Nanney is challenging vendors and arts and crafts people to participate in the festival. “We haven’t even planned to charge a fee,” he said. “We just want everybody to participate.”
Information about the web site and those appearing on the program will be announced as it becomes available.
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As plans proceed for this year’s expanded three-day Freedom Celebration, organizers want people to know the event will not only feature the Charlie Daniels Band, but one of the most sought-after inspirational speakers in the country.
That’s Allen Clark, who comes highly recommended by the likes of President Ronald Reagan and businessman and candidate Ross Perot.
Allen is a 1963 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1963. He volunteered for a tour in Vietnam where he served as a Military Intelligence officer assigned to the Fifth Special Forces Group. Allen sustained injuries in an early-morning mortar attack at the Dak To Special Forces camp on June 17, 1967, that necessitated the amputation of both legs below his knees. His military service and sacrifice were recognized with receipt of a Silver Star for Gallantry in Action, the Purple Heart, and the Combat Infantryman's Badge.
But his story only starts there.
While learning to adjust to his disability and to walk on prosthetic legs, Clark obtained an MBA in finance and investments from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. He served as an investment manager for Ross Perot and worked in oil and gas exploration, real estate marketing, and mortgage lending. He has been vice president of a bank, president of three oil service companies, and co-founder of a real estate investment company in Texas.
He received political and service appointments in Texas and nationally, although he chose then to remain in Texas, but in 1989, he was nominated by President George H.W. Bush and confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Assistant Secretary for Veterans Liaison and Program Coordination at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. In 1991, he received his second VA confirmation as Director of the National Cemetery System, a position in which he served until the end of the Bush Administration.
He retired in 2005 as the Public Affairs Officer for the VA North Texas Health Care System in Dallas, Texas to devote time to his lay ministry. That ministry is involved in outreach efforts to help veterans recover emotionally and spiritually from adverse wartime experiences.
Allen participates in many community and civic activities, including regularly speaking at various group events and churches. Allen has addressed many audiences nationwide as a political candidate, public official, and motivational speaker. Allen's autobiography titled "Wounded Soldier, Healing Warrior" has recently been published by Zenith Press.
The second patriotism-oriented speaker for the celebration will be Union County’s own Ben McClelland.
McClelland has gained attention for his book, Soldier’s Son, an account of his efforts to learn more about his father who was killed in World War II when McClelland was an infant.
McClelland is a professor of English and holder of the Schillig Chair of English Composition at the University of Mississippi.
He earned M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in English at Indiana University where he wrote a dissertation on William Faulkner's fiction and now teaches writing at Ole Miss. His wife, Susan, teaches administrators at Ole Miss and she is the former principal of New Albany High School and Assistant Superintendent of the city school district.
The 2007 Freedom Celebration is primarily the brainchild of Mark Garrett and Phil Nanney, inspired by the desire to have the sort of patriotic event locally one usually sees only in larger cities.
It will begin at 6 p.m. Friday, June 29, with a parade and opening ceremony at the courthouse lawn, followed by a gospel music celebration at 7 p.m.
A parade will also start off events Saturday, June 30, and Clark and McClelland will speak and sign copies of their books at the Magnolia Civic Center starting at 9 a.m. Gov. Haley Barbour will be on hand, as will Miss Mississippi USA and Miss Teen Mississippi.
Museum displays and tours will go on throughout the day and Mrs. Allen Clark will speak at a ladies luncheon at noon. Arts and crafts will be available and political candidates will have the opportunity to speak from 1 to 5 p.m.
Also from 1 to 5, various talent will perform on the Freedom Stage, situated off Hwy. 78 across from the Sportsplex and adjacent to Tallahatchie Trails.
The Paul Rainey Band will perform on that stage at 6 p.m., followed by Gravely Presents The Charlie Daniels Band. After the concert, a fireworks display will be held, billed as the largest in the Southeast United Stated.
The Saturday night concert and fireworks display is the only ticketed event of the celebration and admission for that will cost $15.
The celebration will end Sunday with a community church service with Clark as speaker at 4 p.m., also on the Freedom Stage. The event will culminate in the dedication of the Freedom Plaza, near the stage.
This plaza will comprise a paved five-pointed star-shaped area with a large flagpole and flag at the center. The bricks in the plaza will eventually have names and information honoring Union County veterans and those in military service.
Text provided by New Albany News Exchange |
