Gearing up for the Fourth of July
The Sperryville Volunteer Fire Department’s getting ready for its eighth annual Rappahannock County 4th of July celebration. Once again amid the rolling hills of the Thornton Hill Hounds race course on U.S. 522 south of Sperryville, the Independence Day fireworks and familyfun festival is on a Friday this year, and organizers are expecting more than the usual crowd (which has exceeded 4,000 some years).
To help do it right, the fire department’s committee, headed by Gary Settle, is hoping businesses will continue to help support the event. “The event is work intensive,” he says, “and supported by every member of the Sperryville Volunteer Fire Department. Because of increasing costs associated with putting on an event of this magnitude, continued underwriter support is needed each year in order to sustain the event.”
Settle said the fire department appreciates the support of the event’s current underwriters — Jamie, Lilla and Bill Fletcher; Hampton Foundation; B&B Signal Company; Greve Foundation; Greg Williams Tree Service and Landscaping; realtors Cheri and Martin Woodard; and Union First Market Bank. “I look forward to seeing everyone again this year!” Settle says. “Come out and support your community and enjoy the best fireworks display in the area.”
General admission is $25 per vehicle at the gates — which open at 1 p.m. at 4137 Sperryville Pike — and includes music by Dontez Inferno and Gold Top County
Ramblers, and fireworks at dusk. There’s a $10,000 cash raffle drawing at 9 p.m. (only 250 tickets will be sold at $100 each), plus food, antique cars and tractors, local non-profit booths, children’s games, face painting, kiddie rides, a dunk tank, a medi-vac helicopter display and more. Rain date is Saturday, July 5. Tailgating spots are $50; corporate sponsorships are $450 for a prime spot on infield and special recognition. (Email gtsettle@hotmail.com — before June 15, when the fee goes up to $550 — for more information on corporate sponsorships and underwriting.)
For general information, call 540-987-8124 or visit sperryvillefire.com.