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A Small Town Independence Day

By Kylea McMurray
Moapa Valley Progress
Submitted July 9, 2008


Many Moapa Valley residents stayed home on July 4th and spent the day at the Logandale Fairgrounds celebrating Independence Day. The Moapa Valley 4th of July Celebration provided free fun for all ages both in the morning and the evening.

The morning started with a Flag Raising Ceremony conducted by the local American Legion and VFW posts. During the ceremony American Legion chaplain, David Fox, asked all veterans

The crowds cooled off at the Volunteer Firefighter Waterfight on the lawn at the Fairgrounds in the morning of the 4th of July.
to come forward to be recognized for their service.

The Rotary Club had been hard at work in the Fine Arts Building cooking eggs, pancakes and sausage for the community. “Our count for the breakfast in the morning was about 550 people served,” said Jacqulyn Pray, Chairwoman of the local 4th of July Celebration Committee.

Kassandrya Goodman competed and came away with first place in the annual Youth Pie Eating Contest. After breakfast, the children hurried outside. They knew it was only a matter of minutes before an ultralight aircraft would pass overhead and drop candy all over the lawn. This year the lone ultralight, operated by Travis Marshall, made two passes overhead dropping candy for the delighted youngsters. Parks and Rec then provided water games and activities for all the children. Kids had fun on slip n’ slides, in sand piles and on the grass. “We had all kinds of water games, and some of our staff filled up about 600 water balloons,” said Dion Lee of Parks and Rec. “Our goal was to have lots of wet fun for people of all ages.”

While the kids were spending time playing water games, more serious games were afoot across the plaza. The highly competitive hot dog and pie eating competitions were held in front of a large audience of young people and adults.

In one of the biggest, most controversial, upsets in 4th of July history, Josh Larmore won the coveted title of Hot Dog King, coming in just ahead of defending champion Joe Perez. Larmore ate five hot dogs in two minutes. There was some disagreement among the crowd as to just how many hotdogs had been eaten by the standing champion, Joe Perez. Some said it was more than five, but it was difficult to tell just how many hot dogs Perez still had in his mouth when the bell rang. In any case, Larmore, was declared the winner and earned himself three yards of concrete from Ready Mix.
Not to be outdone, however, Perez swept the Pie Eating competition, coming in well ahead of all the competition.

The youth eating competitions were also exciting spectacles. Gillian Raymond completely dominated the youth Hot Dog Competition. She ate five hot dogs, tying the record in the adult competition.

In Pie Eating, Kassandrya Goodman proved the fastest “Pie Eater” at a table full of tough competition.

Before these herculean contests were completed, the local Volunteer Fire Departments were already working hard to cool everyone off. Droves of kids and parents alike were soaked by the fire hoses. This traditional water fight brought a close to a morning of fun.

Throughout the next few hours families swam, barbequed, and celebrated Independence Day on their own. Many took time to go swimming at one of the local pools, which were open free of charge for several hours.

In the evening hundreds flocked again to the Fairgrounds for the closing program and fireworks. The American Legion opened the evening by retiring the flag. Afterward everyone moved into the Fine Arts building for a great dinner provided and served by the Moapa Valley Chamber of Commerce.

Gillian Raymond, the Youth Hot Dog Eating Champion ate five hot dogs, winning her the Championship and tying the Adult Champion.
While people were in line for their food Parks and Rec provided a few small games for kids. Over the next hour neighbors chatted, kids played and everyone ate.
Kids scramble to pick up candy at the July 4th candy drop. The Patriotic Program started promptly at 8:30 and everyone made their way to their seats for the flag ceremony. The ceremony was conducted by young men from Scout Troop 21 who proudly presented the flag and led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Shelby Bennett and Megan Potter then took the stage to give a harmonized rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. Throughout the program these girls provided several inspiring musical numbers. Bennett and Terra Stump sang “Soldier Boy”, a heart tugging ballad, and later in the program Shelby Bennett, Cole Bennett, John David Belcher and Megan Potter sang “Wind Beneath My Wings”.

The program was also a chance for Jacqulyn Pray to present awards to two important community members. “A few years ago we decided that there were so many who give so much to this community and we wanted to recognize them,” said Pray.

She presented the annual Spirit Award to Richard Rockenbach for his service, and for inspiring patriotism, particularly in the scouting program. Steve Getz was awarded the Service Award for his years of community involvement and volunteer work.

Each year the 4th of July Committee sponsors an essay competition on the year’s patriotic theme. This year the theme was Freedom is Never Free and the winning essays were written by Bryanna Sheldon and Autumn Higgins.

Sheldon was present to read her essay aloud during the program, but Higgins was not able to attend. Sheldon’s essay encouraged the audience to remember those who have sacrificed for freedom.

At the end of the program “part-time resident” Robert Kuczera took the stage. Kuczera invited all who had served in the military in one of the Middle East Conflicts to come to the stage, and he presented all of them with a shirt from the Memorial.

It was then time for the fireworks show. Elwin Brown and Daniel Pray had choreographed the fireworks in advance to light at just the right times with patriotic music. The show featured classic fireworks and new crowd favorites with shooting stars and lights that split off in many different directions. The Grand Finale lit up the sky and brought a round of oohs from the audience.

The Grand Finale brought an end to a day of festivities. “This year we had a much smaller crowd than usual, but we still had a good day, ” said Jacqulyn Pray. “I’ve got to thank all of the volunteers.

We do a lot of things here today but they make it possible, we couldn’t do this without everyone.”

Cool fun for a hot Independence Day morning at the Fairgrounds.

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