“The continuing uncertainty of the pandemic and concern for the health and safety of participants made it the right decision, albeit a very difficult one”, stated Mary Ellen Wuellner, the Forest Preserve District’s executive director. “We know this event is a long-standing tradition for the Champaign County community. We look forward to the day when we will be able to safely come together for these fun community celebrations.” 

Uncertainty around Illinois’ timeline to allow large public gatherings contributed to the decision, as did the inability to secure sufficient volunteer assistance to carry out the large event given the COVID-19 safety concerns. 

“It is challenging to secure a sufficient number of volunteers to work the entry gates and handle parking responsibilities in the best of years. In 2020, that task would be nearly impossible,” Wuellner noted. 

The Forest Preserve District plans to resume the fireworks show in 2021. 

The post Mahomet’s 2020 Freedom Fest Canceled first appeared on SJO Daily.

Hillbilly Deluxe is ready to welcome spectators to the Oakwood fireworks show on July 4.

The band, which has been together for six years, will cover new country hits from 6 to 9 p.m. at Oakwood Park.

Oakwood native and Hillbilly Deluxe bass player Jon Foley said he’s excited to be performing before one of the best Fourth of July celebrations in the area.

“It’s the best place I could ever think of to play on the Fourth of July,” Foley said. “I love this town. I always have.

“The fireworks are spectacular every year.”

Foley’s family, which derived from the Hatfields of Kentucky, moved to Oakwood in 1913. The Foley family enjoyed performing music.

“My father was performing in Green Bay, Wis., the night I was born,” Jon Foley said. “He was a road musician and a tavern owner.

“Music was played in my house 24 hours a day,” Foley said. “Either it was being played on the radio or my dad played the guitar and sang or my mom played the guitar and sang.”

Foley joined Hillbilly Deluxe a year ago, but he said his favorite part of being in the band is being with his lifelong friends.

“I love the fact that four out of five of us go back 30 years,” he said. “We’ve grown into middle age together.”

Guitarist Ryan Towning graduated with Foley from Oakwood High School in 1984. Other band members include lead singer Troy Pate, guitarist Mike Knoblett and drummer Tim Farren.

The post Hillbilly Deluxe to open up Oakwood Firework Show first appeared on SJO Daily.

BY DANI TIETZ
dani@sjodaily.com

6 a.m., Oawood: Oakwood Fire Department Pancake Breakfast

11 a.m., Oakwood: Parade

4 p.m., Oakwood: Oakwood Park opens to public and vendors

4:30 p.m., Homer: Games at Village Hall
430pm- Egg Toss
5pm- Water Balloon Toss
7pm (or about 30 minutes after parade)- Watermelon Eating Contest
730pm- Sack Races
8pm- Tug of War

6 p.m., Homer: Parade

6 p.m., Oakwood: Hillbilly Deluxe, featuring Jon Foley and Ryan Downing

Dusk: Homer: 40-minute fireworks show

Dusk: Oakwood: 25-minute fireworks show

The post Homer and Oakwood Fourth of July Guides first appeared on SJO Daily.

The Fourth of July, according to Oakwood’s Fourth of July event co-organizer Ferrell Stroh.

“It brings everyone close together,” Stroh said. “Everybody just comes together.”

In Oakwood, the Independence celebration begins on July 3 when the Oakwood Public Library gives kids, teens and adults the chance to participate in a bike parade through the Oakwood Farmer’s Market.

Throughout the day, the library will provide supplies for patrons to come in and decorate their bikes, strollers, or wagons. If patrons can’t come in and decorate, they are more than welcome to decorate at home and then meet for a 4 p.m. start time as the group shows off their patriotism to family and friends in town.

The bike parade is the kick-off event, though.

A small town in East Central Illinois with a population no larger than 1,600 residents, Oakwood packs big heart into its annual celebration on the Fourth.

The effort has not gone unnoticed.

In what Stroh referred to as a population boom, Oakwood sees about 5,000 people lined along the streets and in the parking areas during the day’s events.

The Oakwood Fire Department begins the Fourth of July with the early risers, serving a pancake breakfast at 6 a.m.

Both parade viewers and participants line the streets beginning at 10 a.m.

Stroh, who is responsible for the management of the parade, expects to see approximately 125 entries in 2019. Participants can sign-up until 10 a.m. on the northeast corner of Main and Oakwood streets.

The parade will begin at 11 a.m.

Stroh said after the parade, there is about a two-hour lull in activities until vendors begin to set up at Oakwood Park. Ice cream, drinks, hot dogs and kettle corn, among other items, will be available to purchase.

An air rescue helicopter will also be at Oakwood Park for visitors to view and get in.

At 6 p.m., Hillbilly Deluxe, featuring Jon Foley and Ryan Downing, will take the stage, performing live until 9 p.m. when the Jamaica Pyrotechnics will begin its fireworks show.

“It’s really something to see,” Stroh said. “It’s just like WWIII; the fireworks and rockets and explosions. It’s beautiful and it’s nonstop. It’s 24 or 25 minutes of nothing but the sky lighting up; this just going all distances and all altitudes.”

Stroh said people come from all around, filling up the park with lawn chairs and blankets to be near their family and friends while spectators also line the streets going out of Oakwood.

Stroh has been part of organizing the Fourth of July celebration for two years. With a love for the Fourth of July, he said it has been an honor to help Bob Parr, who has been teaching Stroh the ropes after decades of organizing the event.

A Veteran and member of Oakwood’s American Legion, Stroh served in the 82nd Airborne Division as a paratrooper.

“The Fourth of July is my favorite holiday,” Stroh said. “I bleed red, white and blue. I take care of all the flags in all the Village of Oakwood. I’m very patriotic.

“It’s a big thing for me. I can’t even put it in words, really, how much pride and how happy I feel on the Fourth of July.”

The post Oakwood Fireworks and Parade bring community together first appeared on SJO Daily.

Homer, Ill.-Traditions are important.

For Homer’s Angela Lawrence, traditions mean shared experiences with her daughter and the friends and family she’s grown up with.

At 43-years of age, Lawrence, who is the President of the HCIA (Homer Community Improvement Association) and the head of the Homer Activity Committee, has fond memories of being part of Homer’s Fourth of July celebration as a kid.

Hosted by the Homer Rec Board, the day-long event included games, such as an egg toss and a tug-of-war contest, before the community paraded throughout the streets of Homer and settled into the evening hours and fireworks.

Over time, though, the Rec Board dissolved. The town-wide celebration became a parade and fireworks for about a decade, then dwindled down to just a fireworks show.

But Lawrence kept listening to her grandmother, Edith Gordon, a Homer native who will turn 100 years old this year.

“My grandma is always like, ‘We’ve always done the Fourth of July,’ ” Lawrence said.

To keep Homer traditions alive, residents formed the HCIA (Homer Community Improvement Association) and HAC (Homer Activity Committee) a little over three years ago.

Lawrence, the President of HCIA and a leader in the HAC, said she’s involved for her almost 11-year old daughter.

“I want my daughter to have the same community memories that I have,” Lawrence said. “I do it because I want her to say ‘When I was little, we could walk up to the fireworks and play games and have fun.’ That’s my reason for doing it.”

Many Homer natives have the same memories.

“Everybody knows they go up (to Village Hall) and they will run into family and friends and people that maybe they haven’t seen in a while,” she said.

HCIA has moved the fireworks display from the local park to Village Hall, where, beginning at 4 p.m., families can play games, grab a bite to eat, shop from local vendors and get ready for the parade.

Lawrence said everyone is invited to participate.

“All they have to do is show up,” she said.

Parade participants can ride bikes, walk a dog, showcase their business or ride on a fire truck. This year, local marching bands, cheerleaders, political parties, police cars and the Sidney Dairy Barn Moo Mobile will join the lineup.

“Everybody throws candy,” Lawrence said.

The parade that heads down Second Street from Village Hall turns to Main Street before going down Wabash Street and Ellen Street, returning to Village Hall. The parade lasts about 40 minutes.

“It’s not a terribly long distance, but it covers all the main parts of town where everybody is,” Lawrence said.

Homer favorites such as the Homer Deli Belly, the soda shop and the Homer Bakery should be open during the parade.

Crowds are invited back to Village Hall for games such as a balloon toss, an egg toss, sack races and a watermelon eating contest.

A 40-minute fireworks show will begin near dusk. Homer hires a DJ to play patriotic music while a continual stream of fireworks burst from the ground into the night sky.

“It’s constant,” she said. “It’s not like two or three here and then you’re waiting for them. It’s just constantly going off and there’s always so many big beautiful high fireworks.”

Lawrence said the grounds around Village Hall are usually packed and the roads leading out of town are, too.

“We have people that line up on (Rt.) 49 outside of Homer by Casey’s that goes towards Ogden,” she said. “And then we have people that line up from Village Hall cutting towards Catlin on the Homer Catlin roads.”

“They know that wherever they go, they will be able to see the fireworks because they’re big.”

The post Homer Fourth of July full of traditions first appeared on SJO Daily.