bit by bit, putting it together...

Stephanie, our summer intern, started this week. She volunteered for us during Festival of Lights, and I guess she liked us so much that she just couldn't stay away! And who could blame her? Let me tell you: we are pretty cool. We can't help it.

On Tuesday, Stephanie's second day, we had one of our Fun Fourth Chairman's meetings. And even though this is my fourth(!!!) Fun Fourth, there's always a point during the preparations when I feel like Stephanie: all this new information is being thrown at me, and I'm trying to quickly process it and figure out how all these pieces will come together to create the Fun Fourth Festival.

Coordinating all the events that comprise Fun Fourth is a giant undertaking, and Grassroots depends on our wonderful, hardworking volunteer Chairmen/women to handle various elements of the Festival. The Chairman's meetings are when we get to hear about the work that everyone has been doing, and we start to get a sense of what the Festival will look like.

Here's a sampling of some of the things we talked about on Tuesday:

• Reiterating for the millionth time that the Street Festival this year is on Saturday, July 3rd. We cannot say this enough: Fun Fourth. Street Festival. Saturday, July 3rd. We would shout it from the rooftops if we could.
• We got a sneak peak of the Fun Fourth mascot for this year. Dolley is still evolving, but we can't wait to show her off.
• As our fearless leader Betty Cone says, "stages are the backbone of any festival." We got an update on the various bands and entertainers who will be gracing our five stages this year, courtesy of our entertainment coordinator, Kathleen McGirty. As always, there's a wide variety of acts, so everybody's sure to find something worth listening to as they wander around the festival. The stage schedule will be online soon, so be sure to check it out!
  
• Hey, Southern Living fans! There's going to be a piece on Fun Fourth in an upcoming issue of the magazine, so be sure to check that out!
• The deadline for Craftscene and Vintage Village applications has been extended to June 1st - HINT HINT.
• When asked to tell us about the Freedom Run, our always entertaining Freedom Run coordinator, Mebane Ham, began with this: "We're gonna have a run." Well, yes. But we do have some really exciting news for this year's run: we've partnered with a wonderful organization called Miles for Smiles, an athletic ride along for children with disabilities who would not normally be able to experience outdoor endurance events such as marathons, triathlons and other road races. For more information on how to participate, you can visit our website.
• And finally, the most important decision we will make all year: who has good enough karma to control the weather for the fireworks on Sunday.

There were many other things we talked about, but we don't want to give everything away. It's mind-boggling to contemplate all the things that need to be dealt with between now and the Freedom Run on June 26th, and then all the other things that will get put together in the week between the Freedom Run and the Street Festival, but that's why we have these meetings. We deal with the messy details, so that you can come to our events and know that you're going to have a great time.