With fireworks going off on Tybee Thursday, the River Street fireworks extravaganza happening on Friday, and Richmond Hill’s celebration Saturday there are plenty of options for those looking to commemorate our nation’s independence this Fourth of July weekend.
Richmond Hill’s celebration will be at J.F. Gregory Park, Saturday, from 5 p.m.-9 p.m. and is free.
The band The Tams will be performing and there will be water inflatable’s for the kids, according to Linda Phillips, the assistant city clerk and the city event coordinator for Richmond Hill.
Fireworks will start around 9 p.m.
Philips says attendants can bring their own coolers, towels, and blankets, and suggests bringing extra clothes for the kids.
Last year the event pulled in a crowd of 6,000-8,000 people, according to Phillips.
In addition, for those who want to make a day of it in Richmond Hill, the Richmond Hill Historical Society’s monthly Cars & Coffee event begins at 9 a.m. Saturday at the museum.
Down Highway 144, Fort McAllister State park will be hosting festivities Friday starting at 9 a.m.
They will be celebrating with Civil War musket firing, and cannon firings every hour until 5 p.m. with one more at 8:30 p.m., according to ranger Shirley Rowe.
There will also be Civil War-era games throughout the day and watermelon.
In order to demonstrate how people lived at the time, there will be Civil War soldiers camping at the fort all day Friday and part of Saturday.
“It’s a good living history demonstration,” said Rowe.
The cost is $4.50-$7.50.
The River Street Fourth of July Festival & Fireworks Extravaganza will last all weekend, the festival hours kicking off at 4 p.m. Friday, according to Carrie Bligh, executive director of the Savannah Waterfront Association.
The fireworks will be at 9 p.m. and there will be bands playing patriotic music during the display.
Artists, vendors and bands will be part of the festival, according to Bligh, and Saturday festival hours are 10 a.m.–10 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
Tybee Island’s fireworks will start at 9:15 p.m. Thursday, according to a Visit Tybee press release, and the fireworks will be visible from the pier and pavilion, the beach and anywhere on the eastside of the island.
There will be an Independence Day Colonial Faire at the Fort Morris Historic Site in Midway on the Friday from 11 a.m.–3.pm.
Site manager Arthur Edgar says it will be a day of family fun with “a lot of old time colonial type games from around the time of the American Revolution.”
There will also be reenactors representing the Georgia signers of the Deceleration of Independence.
The event is free due to the sponsorship of the city of Flemington, the Friends of Fort Morris, and the Liberty County Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Fort Stewart is hosting its Independence Day Salute to the Nation and fireworks at Fort Stewart, Friday at Cottrell Field.
The Salute to the Nation, a howitzer round fired for each state and territory in the U.S, starts at 8:30 p.m. and the firework finale is expected to start at 9:30 p.m., according to the Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield Public Affairs Office press release.
Pembroke had its Fourth of July Celebration Monday with the 3rd Infantry Division band at First Baptist Church. The city’s highly popular “Fourth on the First with the Third” included a free picnic for city residents.
Gas prices are expected to be the highest they have been over the holiday weekend since 2008, according a press release from The Auto Club Group.
In 2008 the average price for a gallon of gas was $4.02 in Georgia and last year the price was $3.34.
Mark Jenkins, AAA spokesperson predicts "Motorists are likely to pay about 20 cents more for gasoline than they did during last year's Independence Day holiday weekend. Still, current prices are about 10 cents cheaper than they were earlier this year. So AAA doesn't believe gas prices will keep people from traveling for the holiday.”
Finally, there's the weather. A tropical storm isn’t expected to put much of a damper on celebrations this weekend. But, according the National Weather Service, tropical storm Arthur – the season’s first named storm – is strengthening and could bring wind and rain today and Thursday along the Georgia coast.