Wednesday's downtown Fourth of July celebration to include fireworks, music

By Lynn Hotaling

Organized again this year by the Jackson County Parks and Recreation Department, this year's Independence Day gathering will offer music and games from 5 to 9 p.m. and a dazzling fireworks display after dark.

Headlining the event will be Cullowhee's own Fiddling Dills Sisters, backed by the Cullowhee Valley Boys. Joining the lineup this year are rising country music star Matt Stillwell of Sylva and Sometimes Creek featuring Jared Fisher of Cullowhee. The music stage will be in the First Union Bank parking lot.

The recreation department has expanded the number of games for this year's event. The main attraction for the younger set will be the inflatable Super Slide, which will cost 50 cents per ride and will be in the First Citizens parking lot.

Games will get under way at 6 p.m. in the First Union lot and will include a checkers tournament, an Oreo-stacking contest and a watermelon seed-spitting contest.

New this year will be red, white and blue 3-D glasses guaranteed to enhance fireworks-watching. The special glasses will be offered for sale by the recreation department for $1 per pair, with all proceeds going toward the building fund for the Jackson County Recreation Center in Cullowhee. Also for sale will by 4-by-6-inch souvenir U.S. flags for $1 each.

Area residents will also have an opportunity to make larger contributions to the new rec center by purchasing engraved brick pavers at a cost of $40 each. Order forms for the bricks, which will be used to construct a sidewalk at the park, will be available during the Fourth of July festivities.

Jackson County's Sesquicentennial T-shirts will make their debut during the Fourth of July celebration. The off-white, all-cotton shirts featuring the official sesquicentennial logo will cost $10 each. Proceeds from the T-shirts will be used to help fund this fall's celebration of Jackson County's 150th birthday.

Main Street will be closed to through traffic during the fireworks display. Those attending are encouraged to bring lawn chairs to enjoy the music and fireworks.

The Fiddling Dills Sisters - Amanda, 20, and Sharon, 16 - will take the stage at 7:30 p.m. Appearing with them will be the Cullowhee Valley Boys, featuring Charlie Shuler of Cullowhee on banjo and guitar; a father-son team from Sylva, Trevor Burns on guitar and his father, Bobby Burns, on mandolin; and bass-player Billy Joe Trantham of Haywood County.

The Dills sisters have been performing as a duo for at least 10 years, said Amanda, and both started violin lessons before they began school. They perform mostly old-time Appalachian fiddle tunes and some bluegrass and have recorded four cassettes and one CD.

Sylva native Stillwell, who switched to country music after two years as a gospel singer, is scheduled to perform at 6 p.m. A 1993 Smoky Mountain High School graduate, Stillwell was a four-sport letterman in high school and an All Southern Conference baseball player at Western Carolina University. Growing up in Sylva, Stillwell said he was influenced by southern gospel, bluegrass and country music.

Sometimes Creek, a group of mostly Western Carolina University students led by 1998 Smoky Mountain High graduate Fisher, will open the music portion of the evening at 5 p.m.

"This year's Fourth of July celebration should be one of the biggest and best ever," said Jeff Carpenter, parks and recreation department director. "We hope everyone will bring their family and have a great time."

Food vendors who would like to set up at the event should contact SPIR Director Richard McHargue at 586-1577, Carpenter said.

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