Welcoming Ceremony~~Sponsored by The City of Southport
June 28 @ 6:00 pm
The official home of the North Carolina Fourth of July Celebration
Announces Welcoming Ceremonies
Southport-Oak Island, N.C. – The Fourth of July Festival Committee is pleased to announce Welcoming Ceremonies will be held Friday, June 28, beginning at 6:00 p.m. for Southport, and Saturday, July 1, at 5:45 on Oak Island.
Southport Welcoming Ceremony highlights include the Reading of the Declaration of Independence by Lee Norris in period costume and music by the Coastal Harmonizers, followed by the Southport Firefighters Chorus. The public is invited to attend. Bring your blanket or chair to this Festival kick-off event on the Fort Johnston-Southport Museum & Visitors Center lawn, 203 E. Bay Street, Southport, N.C. The City of Southport sponsors this event.
The Coastal Harmonizers, a well-known acapella singing group, are members of the Coastal District of the Barbershop Harmony Society. The group began in 2012 with ten members and has grown each year. Their presentation this evening will focus on several of your favorite patriotic songs.
Lee Norris is a local resident. If you are a Brunswick Senior Citizen, he might have built a ramp for you or a friend in need. If you’ve been to Beach Road Baptist Church, you might have heard him tell the children a story. And, if you attend Brunswick Little Theater, you may have seen him there. This makes Lee’s eleventh year reading the Declaration of Independence at the Welcoming Ceremony.
The Southport Firefighters Chorus is a music group led by Chef Charles Drew. The Festival is honored to have such a fine group of individuals represent their field of service and show their patriotism at the Welcoming Ceremony. Always ready to serve and committed to public safety, the Southport Fire Department is vital to the community, and the community is grateful for each firefighter’s service on and off the job.
Oak Island’s welcoming ceremony will include comments from Mayor Liz White and festival president Randy Jones followed by the presentation of colors by American Legion Post 543. The Beach Day Concert with 21 Ride follows the ceremony. The event begins at 5:45 pm at Middleton Park Extension, 102 SE 47th Street, Oak Island, N.C., on Saturday, July 1. The Town of Oak Island sponsors the Welcome Ceremony, and the Beach Day Concert is an event of the North Carolina Fourth of July Festival.
Each year both the City of Southport and the Town of Oak welcome thousands of visitors during the five-day Festival event. The Festival is made possible by generous donations, and all events are free to the public.
The history of Southport’s Fourth of July Festival celebration was first recorded in a newspaper in 1795. Now the event has grown to attract more than 50,000 visitors each year. Through the years, the festival has evolved to encompass various American celebration traditions because of the efforts of civic groups and citizens. And what could be more American than a Naturalization Ceremony, which was incorporated into the North Carolina Fourth of July Festival in 1996 and administered by what is now the United States Department of Homeland Security U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS). Holding true to its mission of promoting patriotism, the festival also holds a Veterans Recognition Ceremony, Flag Retirement Ceremony, and Flag Raising Ceremony.
