Freedom Fest is Gonna be...Huge
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Grammy Award nominee and Billboard Music Award winner Big and Rich is coming to OUR city on July 4 as the headline performer at Freedom Fest Thursday, July 4 at Roger A. Reynolds Municipal Park.
The county music duo of songwriters, vocalists and guitarists Big Kenny and John Rich are known for high-octane and inspiration compositions ranging from “Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy),” to the Vietnam war tale “8th of November,” which will have a particularly meaningful impact when performed on Independence Day.
The latter is from the duo’s second album, “Comin’ to Your City,” the follow up to the duo’s debut album, “Horse of a Different Color.”
Their third album, “Between Raising Hell and Amazing Grace,” produced the duo’s only #1 single to date, “Lost in This Moment.”
They have performed duets with Martina McBride and Gretchen Wilson.
Open acts Alexis Gomez and Harper Grace will perform beginning at 5 p.m. at the amphitheater at Roger A. Reynolds Municipal Park, 3800 Veterans Memorial Drive.
Big and Rich will perform 8:20 to 9:30 p.m.
Freedom Fest will also feature food trucks (beginning at 3 p.m.), and a “Kid Zone” with Super Games and other entertainment beginning at 5 p.m. for children of all ages.
Discounted wrist bands required for rides can be purchased at a discount in advance, for $8, through July 3 at the Hilliard Community Center, 3800 Veterans Memorial Drive, inside the park and adjacent to the Hilliard Family Aquatic Center.
Wristbands will be available for $10 at Freedom Fest.
A fireworks show will conclude Freedom Fest, starting after a performance of the National Anthem by Hilliard Davidson High School student Cinna Carter at 9:45 p.m.
Hilliard’s Fourth of July parade will step off at 9 a.m. Thursday, July 4.
“Celebrate the Red, White and Blue” is the theme of the 2024 Fourth of July parade.
The parade will begin at the entrance to Weaver Park at Avery Road and Main Street, and then proceed on Main Street to Cemetery Road, east on Cemetery Road, and south on Norwich Street, concluding at the Columbia Street entrance into the fairgrounds.
Libby Gierach is the grand marshal of this year’s parade.
Gierach, who retired April 15 after serving since 2000 as the president and CEO of the Hilliard Area Chamber of Commerce will lead the parade, but after the color guards, riding in a convertible Audi offered by former Hilliard board of education member and City Councilwoman Donna Swenson.
“It is quite an honor (and) I was truly surprised,” Gierach said about getting the call that she was named grand marshal.
All told, Gierach worked 32 years at the Hilliard Area Chamber of Commerce, having been its assistant executive director before ascending to president and CEO in 2000.
Her daughter, Courtney “Corky” Smyser, succeeded her as president and CEO of the chamber.
While Gierach said she will enjoy retirement, including having more time to spend with her husband, Rich, their son Charlie, Corky, and their four grandchildren, but she will still be “only a call away” and expects to being assisting, in a more limited manner, future chamber of commerce activities.
Gierach cites establishing Leadership Hilliard and Taste of Hilliard among what she is pleased to have accomplished with support from the board of directors and the community.
Taste of Hilliard was expanded to become Taste of Hilliard & Business Expo and will soon be rebranded as Taste of the Town.
“I enjoyed collaborating (with others) in making our community even better,” and facilitating connections between many people that resulted in successful businesses launching and growing in Hilliard, Gierach said.
Prior to leading the chamber of commerce, Gierach was active in the Hilliard schools’ PTO and served three terms as an elected member of the Hilliard Board of Education in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
For more information about Freedom Fest, visit https://hilliardohio.gov/freedom-fest/
Freedom Fest motto - Minorities not welcome.