Fun Fourth Haiku of the Day!

Chairs, Ticket Booths, Tents
Oh, Where are the Portajohns?
Fun 4th -- moving stuff!

----bjs
.

Fun Fourth Haiku of the Day!

Where can I find some

live music and fireworks?

Downtown Greensboro!

---Brian Connors

.

Sponsor Spotlight: The News & Record

Fireworks are integral to Greensboro's Fourth of July celebration and we are grateful that for the last several years the News & Record has been a sponsor of the Fireworks!

The News & Record POPS Concert and Fireworks Spectacular will be held on Saturday, July 4th at Jamieson Stadium on the Grimsley High School Campus. The gates open at 6:30pm at 7:30pm the Philharmonia of Greensboro will perform. The 1812 Overture starts at 9:20pm with the Fireworks Spectacular following!

If you are watching the fireworks from your car from one of the many viewing positions in Greensboro make sure that you have signed up to follow us on twitter -- you will receive tweets from Grassroots with all of the fireworks update (including weather reports and shooting schedules).

Many thanks to the News & Record for sponsoring this terrific community event!
.

Fun Fourth Haiku of the Day!

July! It must be
Independence Day Party.
Enjoy Big Bang Boom!

.

. . ---bjs

.

.

Fun Fourth Haiku of the Day

our nation's birthday
two hundred thirty-three years
let's explode some stuff

----LDK
.

Fun Fourth Haiku of the Day

Delicious fair food

Crafts, rides, music and more

Fun Fourth Festival!

-- Peggy Hickle

Race Coordinator - I Make Sure

Now, I’m not a big time runner – I do about a 2 mile jog 5 times a week and call that healthy. I don’t run in the rain(might melt), I don’t run if it is below 19 degrees(might freeze) and don’t run if I have an early morning meeting(might not make the meeting). Yet, you’ll see me at the Freedom Run 10K and 2-Mile Red, White & Blue Fun Run and Walk. And I’ll be there EARLY, around 5:30am. You see, I’m the race coordinator. My job is to make sure the hundreds of folks who come to our race have a good time. That means having tons of food, water, and volunteers. And making sure the race route is ready and water stops are set up, and making sure we have awards, and making sure we have raffle prices, and making sure the volunteers know their jobs and making sure we have job descriptions for those wonderful volunteers. I am the race coordinator – I make sure.

.

Fun Fourth Haiku of the Day!

We are starting a new posting on our blog. Fun Fourth Haiku of the Day! If you want to join the fun email your Haiku to us at info@FunFourthFestival.org and we'll add it in! Or reply in comments with your favorite Haiku.

Wednesday, June 24....

I have a craving.

Need funnel cakes and hot dogs.

Going to Fun Fourth...

Brian Connors

.

Sponsor Spotlight: City of Greensboro

So, there you are enjoying all that the Fun Fourth Festival has to offer...music, funnel cakes, rides, crafts, kids activities, the parade and of course the Fireworks. As you are walking through the Festival you can't help but notice some City of Greensboro employees. . . .Police Department, Fire Department, staff from Field Operations and Parks & Recreation. These departments along with many others all help as part of the City of Greensboro's co-sponsorship of the Fun Fourth Festival.

While Grassroots Productions Limited is the producer of the Fun Fourth Festival we could not do it without the support of our many sponsors including and especially the City of Greensboro. Working closely with several city departments we make sure that this free event for the community is safe, secure, clean and of course fun for all!

Did you notice the volunteers from Greensboro Youth Council in Festival Park? Did you stop by Richardson Park and the Greensboro Historical Museum? Of course City Arts is at the Fireworks keeping us entertained with Patriotic music. How about the hard working guys from Field Operations helping to keep the trash picked up and the recyclables all sorted -- behind the scenes we have support from Water Resources, the Signs & Signal Shop, City Managers Office and the Greensboro Coliseum.

Many thanks to Mayor Yvonne Johnson, all members of Greensboro City Council and the great staff of the City of Greensboro for all that they do to make the Fun Fourth Festival an Independence Day Celebration that all citizens of Greensboro can enjoy.
.

The Race is coming! The Race is coming!

In just 9 short days the Freedom Run 10K and 2-Mile Red, White and Blue Fun Run and Walk will be happening in downtown Greensboro. The 10K is a wonderful run through the Old Irving Park and Fisher Park neighborhoods with mile markers, split timers, race monitors and 4 (count them!) 4 water stops. Chip timers are available for all 10K runners.

This year our 2 Mile Fun Run takes on a different hue- colors that is! Put on your best Red, White and Blue and join us for a walk, run , skip and hop through Fisher Park. Dress up in your patriotic best costume, most colorful Red, White and Blue outfit and have some fun. And don't forget the Tot Trot & Kids 1/2K! Its free, no registration and prizes for everyone.

As you can see, this is not your average, everyday run. There is something for everyone! Be sure to register on line at Active.com or download an application here.

.

Sponsor Spotlight: Fairway Outdoor Advertising

You see them all over the Triad - billboards with messages. Sometimes they are advertising gas stations or basketball games at the Coliseum, other times they are filled with messages of encouragment and hope. Then there are times when your favorite non-profit is the benefactor of a billboard. What would we read while we're driving if there was no outdoor advertising?

In the spotlight today -- our favorite outdoor advertising company: Fairway Outdoor Advertising. With over 80 years of experience and more than 1,200 billboards in the market, Fairway Outdoor Advertising of the Piedmont Triad is ready to provide you with the most cost effective means of conveying your advertising message. With the anchor cities of Greensboro, High Point, Winston Salem and Burlington, Fairway-Triad has been a driving force in the outdoor advertising industry with strategically positioned out-of-home media displays, on both primary and secondary arteries, delivering unequaled reach, frequency and exposure of your advertising message.

Many thanks to Daniel O'Shea and staff for supporting the Fun Fourth Festival with their time, talent and resources. Next time you see a billboard...take a moment...read the message, it might be something you need to know!

.

Fun Fourth harnesses the awesome power of new media!

Imagine yourself, if you will, after a long day at the Fun Fourth Festival. You've seen some great bands, bought some one-of-a-kind crafts from some of our many vendors, gorged yourself on funnel cake*, and you'd like nothing more than to just go home, sit back and relax. But wait! The day isn't over yet! Because you can't truly say you've celebrated the Fourth of July in Greensboro unless you've watched the fireworks at Grimsley High School's football stadium.

Ooooooooh!

Aaaaaaaaah!

Now, you have two options: You can go to the stadium and enjoy the ceremonies and the concert featuring the wonderful Philharmonia of Greensboro, or, like so many people do, you can enjoy the fireworks from the surrounding areas, like Lake Daniel Park. One year, when I was living off of Friendly Avenue, near Wesley Long Hospital, I could see the fireworks from the front yard of my apartment. It was fantastic.

There's a catch about watching the fireworks outside of the stadium, though: what to do if it looks like it's going to rain, or it actually does. Because our events are almost always outside, we're often subject to the will of the capricious weather gods, and sometimes we have to make a last minute call about whether we wait for the rain to pass, or postpone the fireworks until the next night. You should see us sometimes, all hunched over our cell phones, looking at various radar maps and weather reports - it's actually quite comical.

Anyway, if we do have a change of plans due to weather, if you're at Grimsley, you'll hear the announcement about what we're going to do. But what if you're sitting by the side of the road or in a park? Should you stay or should you go? Well, thanks to the internet and cell phones and new media, there's a fast and easy way to find out what's going on: you can follow Grassroots on Twitter. And you don't even need to haul around a computer to get updates: you can have them sent directly to your phone. Whenever there's an event, we'll be Twittering (Twitting? Tweeting? Don't ask me, I still haven't figured out the best way to say it) away with updates and information, and Fun Fourth is certainly no exception.

Some of you may be asking "Twitter? What is that?" Or "you mean the site whose claim to fame is that it lets you tell people every single minute, mundane detail of your life?" Yes, that Twitter. Don't worry, we're not going to bore you to tears with stuff you don't really want to hear about. We'll tweet (as they say) what's necessary and informative, to make sure you have a fantastic time at Fun Fourth.


*In case you were wondering: yes, I do have a one-track mind.
.

It's Slime Time

When you think of slime, what comes to mind? Probably things along the lines of green, gross, and gooey. However, after experiencing the slime craft table on Sunday the 14th, I hope a new set of adjectives illuminate your mind. Words like fun and creative will best describe what happens at the slime craft table, I guarantee it.

Over the past couple of days, I have come up with a recipe for home made slime that is just like mom used to make. With a little research, and a lot of experimentation, I settled on a formula. Equal parts glue and water solution to borax and water solution. Finding this simple concoction took many failed attempts.

My journey started on the Internet. Who knew that there were pages and pages of information about slime? After gathering about three or four different slime recipes, I took my finding back to the lab (bubble room) and began to make the magic happen. Due to my mildly tree hugging nature, I was wary about using too much borax in my first attempts, my thought process being the less chemicals the better ( I obviously forgot that glue isn't natural either). This proved to be a horrific mistake! My first batches of slime were runny and difficult to pick up and play with. I could only imagine the children's faces when they realized their slime was the consistency of yogurt. They couldn't toss it or even hold it without it oozing through their fingers and into the abyss of the ground, never to be played with again. Something had to be done, I had to add more laundry booster! With the children's happiness as my driving force, I used double the Borax in my next solution. To my dismay this proved to be yet another misstep. The goo was no longer gooey at all it was hard and somewhat brittle. It didn't stretch, it ripped. It didn't ooze, it congealed. There was nothing cool about it. It was merely a ball of glue, and that's just not fun. Finally, with my next batch, I found success. It was the proper consistency so that you can play with it and throw it in the air, or just watch it ooze in your hands. You can marvel at how it works and think about it's dichotomy. It's just plain fun to play with.

Now that my epic joinery for the perfect slime is over, I would love for you to join Owen and me in an afternoon of food and fun on Flag Day this Sunday the 14th. Along with slime, we will be making flowers out of coffee filters and drawing cheerful pictures for the troops at our craft table. I'm looking forward to sliming downtown Greensboro and you should to.
.

Sponsor Spotlight: 98.7 Simon

98.7 Simon -- They play everything!! They also know how to have fun! For the last several years they have sponsored the Fun Third Block Party and Stage One for the Fun Fourth Festival.

98.7 Simon always manages to add their special touch to the event. Come on out and you might see Carmen introducing one of the bands or Skip The Prize Guy handing out cool Simon gear. Chances are they will be accompanied by station staff or an intern....but for sure, it will be hot (it is July 4th after all) and they will be having fun!

Come on over -- grab a cold beverage, listen to some tunes and stop by and say hey!

.