Greenfield to host two-part Fourth of July

This year’s Fourth of July celebration in Greenfield, July 3-4, will include two parts: a Sunday night of live music, activities, food and fireworks at Lake Greenfield and a Monday full of fun near and on the square, including a parade, more food, and many family friendly activities.

Organizers and sponsors hope the public will come out to enjoy these events that have been in the works for months.

Sunday night at the lake

The first of those two parts will begin at 5 p.m. at the lake, where Kamakaze Karaoke will be held until 7 p.m., when the Cody Hicks Band will take the stage, sponsored by FNB Bank.

There will be yard games, BINGO, a beer garden and food provided by Soulshine Food Truck and Walnut Street Diner.

Fireworks at dusk are sponsored by Union State Bank.

“I think I’m most excited for the lake portion of the celebration. Cody Hicks is a good time, a good show, and I hope we have a lot of people out to see him,” said Nate Maiers, Promotions Committee Chairman with Greenfield Chamber/Main Street. “I think it’ll be a nice, relaxing evening for everybody. We’ll top it off with some fireworks. You can’t go wrong there.”

Cody Hicks comes with a high-energy concert experience from his small town of Montezuma, in south central Iowa.

Hicks, who has never played here, loves playing small towns and says his roots in them is one thing that comes out in the music he plays.

“I live outside of a lake here in Montezuma, so I love playing at lakes. I wrote a song about it awhile ago. It’s always a good time. People at lakes always seem to have a good time, always party and want to crank up loud music, which is something I’m very good at,” Hicks said. “Montezuma is 1,200 to 1,500 and I’ve lived there 90% of my life. I play a lot of small town festivals, much like the Fourth of July, all summer long. It makes me feel at home because people are mostly the same in small towns. It’s a lot of friendly people who are very welcoming and take good care of us when we come in.”

He’s sang since he was a child and taught himself guitar during college with the help of a friend.

Hicks said people attending festivities at the lake can expect high energy country. They will perform covers and originals.

“I try to do stuff people will have heard on the radio and do stuff that’s brand new, that they haven’t heard, that’s going to be on the radio,” Hicks said. “I also try to do some stuff that’s off the wall, like some outlaw country. I try to do a wide mix.”

There will be free shuttles running between the Greenfield Fareway parking lot and Lake Greenfield all evening Sunday.

“We really hope people will take advantage of the shuttle service,” said Stacie Eshelman, Executive Director for Greenfield Chamber/Main Street and Development.

Monday on the square

A classic, family friendly Fourth of July celebration is what organizers are aiming for in Monday, July 4′s portion of the Independence Day celebration.

Festivities in the morning will revolve around a 10:30 a.m. parade with a theme of “Firecrackin’ 4th.” It is sponsored by Greenfield Lumber.

The parade will line up on West Iowa Street headed east, as it has in past years.

The kids parade will be first, followed by the color guard. Those wanting to be in the kids parade will form on West Iowa, heading east, between West 2nd Street and West 3rd Street. The kids parade will be judged, and order to be included in the judging, participants must be lined up by 10:15 a.m. Prizes will be $50 for first place, $25 fore second and $10 for third.

The remainder of the parade will line up behind the kids parade on West Iowa starting at West 3rd Street. The lineup will continue on West 3rd and 4th Streets both north and south of West Iowa Street. Floats are to line up on 3rd, street cars and tractors on 4th, machinery and fire trucks on 5th. Horses may line up west of 4th Street facing east.

Prizes will be awarded for churches, schools and civic organizations in one category and commercial entries in another. Each category will be awarded prizes of $100 for first place, $50 for second and $25 for third.

Candy or handouts are permitted, but they should be passed out and not thrown.

Prior to the parade, Adair County Mutual will hand out free rolls, coffee and juice near their location on the northeast corner of the square.

Following the parade will be kids’ fire truck water fights from noon to 2 p.m. Family fun occurring from noon to 3 p.m. includes Ag 4 All’s Ag Adventures around Long’s Park south of the square; an obstacle course, laser tag, Lion’s Club bounce house, LEGO play area, sand play area, crafts, a dunk tank and face painting by the Nodaway Valley cheerleaders. Fareway is sponsoring eating contests.

There will be tie-dye t-shirt making with Small Town Specialty Printing and flag painting with Dominic Breheny. There will be a frog jumping contest at 12:30 p.m. and a kiddle pedal pull, sponsored by Titan Machinery at 1 p.m. At 1:30 p.m. will be Hypnotist Rick Bultez giving a show. Stage entertainment is sponsored by Adair County Abstract and Sickles Trucking and Repair.

The “Minions” movie will play at Grand Theatre and Video at 2 p.m. The first 50 guests can receive a free small popcorn, sponsored by the Greenfield PEO chapter.

From 3 to 5 p.m. will be free swimming at the Greenfield Pool.

Food for lunchtime will include options like grab and go specials from The Corner, Lion’s Club Lemonade, Soulshine Food Truck, the Zipp’s Pizzaria food trailer, and more.

Sponsors for the celebration include Adair County Health System, Cardinal IG, Care Initiatives, Don Carlos Insurance, Don Carlos Realty, Greater Regional Health, Casey’s, GHI Sanitation, Karl Chevrolet, Tiger Drive In, Traveler’s Guesthouse, Adair County Health and Fitness Center, Brocker, Karns and Karns (Bill Yount, Agent), Fareway, Greenfield Municipal Utilities, Jensen Family Chiropractic and Wellness Center and NuCara Pharmacy.

“We’re ready to rock and roll. There’s been a lot of preparation and we’re ready to do the thing,” said Nate Maiers, Promotions Committee Chair with Greenfield Chamber/Main Street.