Big Sandy will be having a town party at the T-Ball fields next to the grade school on July 4th starting at 6:00 or 7:00?? The concession stand will be serving hamburgers and brauts for $5.00. The money goes to supporting the town party. The Mint is suppling all of the hamburger, Peps is donating all the brauts, and the Grocery store will be donating everything else. All three businesses support the party because they can and because they believe celebrating community and connecting with each other is important. Community service is part of their business. And as was spoken, community service should be a part of everybody's efforts. Colby Baumgarn wanted everybody to know that they are still looking for donations to help with the party. Also, it is important after families eat and celebrate with their own supplies of fireworks that they clean up after themselves. It's a big mess for the school janitors to clean up all the fields and parking lots the next day.

And with every July 4th celebration eating is a huge part of celebrating, but the 4th goes deeper than that. July 4th is Kelly Rutledge's favorite holiday. "It's all about the freedom, it's truly the declaration of independence. Our family was there. Edward and John Rutledge signed the declaration. It's traced back to them. It is our family and it's kind of neat, but the biggest thing is our freedom and all the people who have fought. To wake up in the morning and know." Talking about the four freedoms; the freedom of speech, the freedom to worship in his own way, freedom from want and freedom from fear. "You can't choose one as the most important, if you don't have one you don't have any. Andrea Rutledge said she, "feels safe." "We are so far removed from what the freedoms really are. We take it for granted."

However, as we gather for the celebration it is possible to both find pride in our community and feel privileged to live in the United States of America. Celebrating both makes it worth attending. Families eating with friends, playing together, and enjoying the evening.