Haven 444 Presents: A Fourth To Remember

SPEAKER_09 0:09

Welcome to Haven Four Four Four. Lynn Haven's Community Podcast. Every community has moments that deserve to be remembered. And some are captured in photographs, some live on in family stories, and some are best remembered through sound. Today's episode is a little different. It's a chance to preserve what the forts felt like in this small city of 21,000 people by the bay. There was excitement, laughter, and music and voices and community pride. You could feel it in the air, you could see it on the faces. The simple joy of neighbors gathering together to celebrate America's 250th birthday. So whether you were a local attending the parade or you were discovering our community for the very first time, welcome. This is a fourth to remember. The morning began long before the first float appeared. Families unfolded lawn chairs along Ohio Avenue. They put up these great little tents that went over them for shade. They were prepared. They seemed to be professionals. And we adored every one of them. Children carried tiny flags. Friends found one another on the sidewalks. Grandparents introduced another generation to a tradition they have loved for years. And for a little while, the busiest thing anyone had to do was find the perfect place to watch the parade. There were official welcomes from city manager Chris Lightfoot. From our Commissioner Pat Perno.

SPEAKER_04 2:20

Hey, this is Pat Perno. I just want to wish everybody a happy 4th and Happy Birthday. America, 250 years old. Y'all, we've made it this far, and it's an amazing thing. Let's have a great day. Be safe and have a great time.

SPEAKER_09 2:35

And Commissioner Jamie Warwick, who happened to be dressed up in full costume, is George Washington.

SPEAKER_05 2:43

This is Jamie Warwick, Lynnhaven Commissioner C3, and just want to say thank you for everyone coming to Lynn Haven Parade. Hope everybody enjoys our 250th birthday. And Godspeed everyone.

SPEAKER_09 3:08

Before the first float, before the marching bands, before the candy and applause, our community stood together to honor her country. And our very own firefighter, Lieutenant Nate Pennington, sang the national anthem and made us proud. Our different lives. All those different stories in different generations became one community. Then the parade began, and there were smiles in every direction. But maybe the parade isn't just about what passes by. Maybe it's about who's standing beside you. Your neighbors and your friends and your family. People who still believe it's worth coming together.

SPEAKER_06 4:33

Hi, my name is Cam Newman. I'm here for the Fourth of July parade. Looking forward to it. Yeah, we we try to come every year. The floats are always good, but I just like to see the engagement from the local community. So just seeing all the people out here is you know worth coming up for.

SPEAKER_01 4:47

I'm Ruda.

SPEAKER_06 4:49

I'm Mike.

SPEAKER_01 4:50

Happy Fourth of July. We're excited about the parade.

SPEAKER_03 4:56

We come to the Lynn Haven parade often afternoon. We're with Britney People. Alex and Lac. This is the second parade. Happy Fourth.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

Hey, we're John and Amanda here in Lynn Haven. Looking forward to the parade and the fireworks tonight. Happy Fourth.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

I'm Daniel Toddter, and we're here with our kids. We are local to Lynn Haven, and we own Elevation Health Awlamis, and we're just here with our community to celebrate the fourth.

SPEAKER_03 5:25

My name is Bee, and my favorite part of the parade is the memories I had growing up with my great-grandparents down here.

SPEAKER_09 5:40

If you weren't there, if you didn't have a chance to experience this, then I hope being able to tune in just a little to the podcast will give you a sense of what it was like. But we also wanted you to know what it was like being behind the scenes, sort of pulling back the curtain so you could see everything involved in pulling off the 4th of July City of Lynnhaven style. And to do that, there was one person we had to sit down with to get the full story, and that's Ty Ferris, who is the director of parks and grounds, but he's also Ty Ferris. He's the wizard behind our Facebook post. Hey Ty, thanks for taking time to talk with us. And we're gonna share your wisdom and your experience and yes, your sense of humor with the rest of the community now. So Avon 444 asked Ty a lot of questions. And we did not record the asking of them, but we'll give you an idea of what they were like. And then we believe you'll be able to tell from Ty's answers what's going on behind the scenes. We asked him when the 4th of July actually began for him, and how many people were involved in making the celebration happen. We wanted to know what his to-do list sounded like. We asked him to walk us through his day from the moment he woke up. We also asked him what was the last thing he thought about and what kept him awake at night. We asked him how they kept people safe during the parade. What was his biggest aha moment? If the weather had ever challenged the parade coming off at all. We asked him about the stress of an event this large and this many people with this kind of history. And we asked him what he hoped people would remember for a long time to come. We hope you enjoy Ty recounting his memories of an incredible event.

SPEAKER_08 8:01

Ideally, it should begin in December to late January, especially this year because 4th of July is such a prominent holiday and it being the 250th anniversary. So between securing the pyro, the barge, which we were unable to do this year, musical talent, which came sliding in to the plate at the last minute, and then coordinating with city staff. You have to get this started early. I think the first thing has to be the evening event. You have to make sure you have the pyro, you know, the fireworks in hand. Are we going off the barge or we're going off the land? You have to secure that. There aren't that many barges in the Lynhaven area that we can use. Some of them are being used by other municipalities, some are being used in construction, so that's why we didn't have one this year. You have to get that lined up so far in advance, as well as the musical talent. I learned that the hard way this year. Any decent band is being requested in larger cities that will pay more. So I learned that you need to line that up about 10 months in advance. We have already started with a lot of stuff for next year. My co-workers will thank me. There's at least 20 to 25. I mean, parks and facilities maintenance make up the bulk of the boots on the ground trying to get the logistics taken care of. I think every department head within the city has staff involved in this. PD and FIRE, of course, especially PD. So, yeah, a lot of folks behind the scenes at how long it is. It is just as an example, the parade. We have to advertise that registration is open. We have to coordinate and make contact with 80 to 85 groups. We have to find out how large the group is, what verbiage they want the MCs to say, and then inevitably whatever they gave us the first time will change two to three times. And we've had them cancel the day before. So there's a lot that goes on. We have to stage them on, you know, we have six to seven streets we're staging them on.

SPEAKER_09 9:54

Then we asked them, when you close your eyes, what's the last thing that goes through your mind on a night like this?

SPEAKER_08 10:04

Praying that I do not oversleep. Everything with this day, the most crucial parts of this day begin that morning. We have such a limited window that everything is literally down to the minute by minute. If we miss something, if somebody's late, if somebody ends up somewhere else, if something goes wrong, it throws everything behind it off, and we're on a tight, tight deadline. Myself and staff are typically here at about 4:30 a.m. We are lining up the flags to get set out. PD is handling that for the most part. Once they get the roads blocked, park staff is putting the MC stage in place while traffic is blocked. Immediately we have communications folks out there helping to decorate. We're setting up VIP tents, we're running ice chests to, you know, the various places. We have somebody parking food trucks, getting them lined up. There's a lot that goes on. Picture an ant bed that somebody kicks over. That's kind of what it looks like behind the scenes. Since I've been involved with this, we have not had a float breakdown, although I'm sure it has happened. The unexpected always happens. For instance, this year by 8:30, my cell phone was down to 19%. And as I'm walking the parade route, I began cramping up. I was dehydrated. And for anyone in the crowd looking at me, it looked like it was my first day trying to walk on new legs. It was uh it was quite comical. I think um, number one, we have the largest 4th of July parade in Bay County. It's early in the morning. I think it allows families to come out. Kids and families all dress up. They're red, white, and blue 4th of July year, and it's a lot of fun. I think to see the kids as you walk up and down enjoy it, it makes it worth it. Yeah, you know, safety is always paramount when we put this together. Not only safety of the kids as they run out to get candy. You know, this year we had um we had staff stationed at each intersection to try and keep those kids back if necessary, but our police chief added an extra layer of safety this year, which we had not previously had. He wanted a large piece of construction equipment or a trash truck parked in front of the barricades at every access point to Ohio Avenue, which is we live in a world right now where crazy people do crazy things. So we're trying to get ahead of it and think ahead. There are a lot of funny things, I think, because this is so fresh in my mind right now. We have a new employee that was helping out with this. So before the band, I don't know, 20 minutes before the ban was set to go on, an older gentleman approached her and said he was with the band and he had a poem he wanted to read to the crowd. So without missing a beat, she goes to hand me the microphone. And fortunately, our production guy stopped him. But I think they sat back watching it happen laughing and thinking, is she really gonna do this? So uh, but she was a good sport about it. We teased her for a little while. It was some random guy that had wandered up and uh had a had an affection for a microphone in a crowd. Those are the stressful moments that I remember more than anything else. For this particular event, we had it structured where we were going to shut down Ohio Avenue at 7:30 a.m., which gives staff time to decorate the MC stage. And two days before the event, everyone met and decided we were going to shut it down at 8.30. But nobody discussed nor talked about, hey, our opening ceremony's at 8 a.m. So we couldn't have the opening ceremony on time. We had requested a PD car to block a lane for us. We had an employee with a chair in the middle of the road trying to divert traffic while they decorated the float. I mean, it was it was, have you got to be kidding me, was probably the nice way to put it. I should have been Ralphie on uh Christmas Story with a bar of soap. Two years ago, we were watching a system move through. It looked like it was 20 minutes away. According to radar, 20 minutes away, and we were going to be doused. And miracle happened. It it passed us by and we we pulled it off.

SPEAKER_09 13:59

And then we had to ask Ty, in all the years of parades gone by, was there ever a particular float or procession that was really memorable?

SPEAKER_08 14:12

They're all good. I I do know that a couple years ago we had uh, I want to say it was FWC that had a deer, and right behind them I believe were some dogs. So it was quite the event to where we decided we're not going to have animals walking anymore in the parade. Well, the real smile comes at the end of the night, but because this whole day is contingent upon the parade actually getting started on time, once that moment happens, it's kind of like falling down a flight of stairs. You're there for the ride, and you just hope you land on your feet at the end. So that's when I get the smile. Once we get it started, I feel better. I hope this parade continues for decades. I think the first parade in Lynnhaven was in 1911 or 1912 for the first Fourth of July parade. So I don't know if this has been an annual tradition ever since, or we picked it up, you know, a few years back, but it it brings the community together in such a way that I think you get to see friends, family, and neighbors all in an environment for a two or three hour period. It's a good event. This year was probably a little outlier. Over the previous years, we've had it set up where the band plays until 850. We keep the lights on, there's a short intermission, the light turns off. And this year we decided to try something a little different, and it was literally during the middle of their set. The band had said, hey, we want to play all the way through to the fireworks start. And they were gonna end the show with the song Freebird. And we thought, wow, what better way to do this than to just let it blend right on into it? So the lights went off as usual at 8.59, and I'm sure most of the crowd wondered what's going on here. And fireworks started as the guitar solo was going on, and I think it was a great moment. To me, it's a memorable moment. What says America more than free bird and fireworks, you know? I didn't realize what all went into the evening concert event until I started trying to line it up. I mentioned earlier that really for a good band, you're gonna have to book them 10 months in advance. So it was to a point where I went onto a national website saying, We're in Lynn Haven, we need a 4th of July band. This is our budget, this is the time. We probably had 40 bands contact us. It was it was kind of scary. I thought we were gonna end up with Harry and his magical kazoo, but we were fortunate. I happened to run across a band on YouTube, reached out to them and their agent, and they readily jumped at the chance, and I feel it was a success. Yeah, and I think it's because it brings a town together, it brings the community together. Not only is it a national holiday, but I think it's where everybody's in the same spot, dressed the same way, all in red, white, and blue, and all celebrating the same thing, which is an ideal that has lasted 250 years. I tell you what, I heard a lot of visitors. I uh there were surprisingly a lot of folks from out of town that I ran into. They couldn't believe how patriotic the city was and how much we had put into this, as well as how friendly people were. I heard that over and over, how friendly the community is.

SPEAKER_09 17:10

Then we played a little rapid fire. First question: what's your favorite parade candy?

SPEAKER_08 17:17

Anything that doesn't melt.

SPEAKER_09 17:21

Name your favorite food truck food.

SPEAKER_08 17:24

In the evening it was barbecue ribs, without a doubt.

SPEAKER_09 17:28

Coffee or energy drink to sustain you? Coffee, without a doubt.

SPEAKER_08 17:36

Parade or fireworks? Definitely parade. I think I get to see things in a parade that a lot of people don't. If you're sit stationary, you just see the floats. I get to walk and see the faces of so many families and kids, and it is just incredible to see the joy that that simple parade brings.

SPEAKER_09 17:52

What's the loudest moment of the day?

SPEAKER_08 17:56

They're all loud moments and it's all a blur. And the quietest moment? Oh, honestly, the music starts, I think then I start to realize, hey, we we made it through. As long as nothing bad. Sound doesn't go out, what have you? We've made it.

SPEAKER_09 18:14

Biggest sigh of relief? When is that?

SPEAKER_08 18:18

It is. Being able to get the parade started is the first sigh. The last sigh is the last firework, and I'm thankful.

SPEAKER_09 18:32

And when the last firework fades and everyone goes home, Ty, what goes through your mind?

SPEAKER_08 18:39

Although I feel like it was a successful event, my day doesn't stop. I shot over 2,000 pictures. So just to give you an idea, a typical spring concert series, I will work two hours just culling through pictures. So after taking 2,000 pictures, it was a full two days of calling pictures, then to put out what happened to let people enjoy, you know, the event. You know, Facebook allows us to only post 80 pictures per post. And this year we took over 2,000. So it doesn't make any sense to put out multiple posts over and over and over. So what we tried to do was call the most memorable or something that would resonate with folks and put out on multiple posts. So those that went there could look back and enjoy those memories and the experience they had that day.

SPEAKER_09 19:26

If you could thank one group of people that never get enough recognition, who would it be?

SPEAKER_08 19:33

To be honest with you, we couldn't do this without every every volunteer and every department that participates. I think PD doesn't get enough credit. Those guys are decked out in their full gear, vests, the whole work, standing out in the sun. They don't get to walk around and get in the shade. Sponsors are incredibly important for this event. This year we had Panhandle Engineering and Dewberry Engineering. Both are longtime sponsors for events in Lynn Haven, especially the 4th of July. This year we reached out to CBC Construction and they jumped at the chance to participate in anything in our community. Lynn Haven has some great events, whether they're the spring and fall concert series, Christmas Parade, Fourth of July Parade. We have some great events. So without the financial support of those sponsors, none of this happens. And with the budget cuts that we're looking at for the coming year, if some of what we feel may happen, happens, we're gonna have to rely more on sponsors if we want to hold events.

SPEAKER_09 20:30

What do you hope people remember about this year's celebration?

SPEAKER_08 20:35

How much we're trying to make this a family-friendly event. I mean, we we really go to great lengths to ensure that we have plenty of snow cone trucks for the kids, that we have balloon artists for the animals, we have four face painters set up for the kids. I mean, we do everything we can to make this a memorable event for the entire family.

SPEAKER_09 21:08

Daniel Rayville says, Thank you to the city of Lynnhaven for putting on such a great event and allowing us to be a part of it. Celebrating 250 years of American independence with our community was an honor. It was a great reminder that when neighbors, businesses, volunteers, and local governments work together, incredible things can happen. God bless Lynhaven, Bay County, and the greatest nation on earth, America. From the Bam Walenska, City of Lynhaven, thank you again for the amazing hospitality. We will gladly be a part of anything you guys put on. We will never forget the opportunity you gave us. Thank you to all the amazing visitors. For the great food and treats. Thank you to all the folks who came to celebrate Independence Day with us. Everyone was so incredibly nice. Maggie Dole says, Thank you to the City of Lynnhaven for the wonderful parade in the fireworks. My seven-year-old granddaughters come from Tennessee every year to see the celebration. And there was one more special note. It's a handwritten note that just arrived, addressed to Ty. Ty, if there were a parade for most accommodating event organizer, we'd happily march in it. Thank you for your patience and willingness to make everything work. We appreciate your flexibility in finding the best spot for our group. Your effort did not go unnoticed. The Lynnhaven 4th of July parade is always the best, something we look forward to each year. Gratefully, the Live Like Drew Foundation. And that's what it's all about. Community celebration, these historical, amazing events that we get to be a part of together. Every 4th of July eventually comes to an end. The last firework fades, the bowling chairs are packed away, the streets grow quiet again. But what remains are the memories, the laughter, the music, the pride, and the gratitude. And the reminder that we are fortunate to call this place home. Thank you for spending part of your Independence Day with us. And if you enjoyed today's presentation, we'd love for you to share it with a friend, leave a review, visit us at haven444.com. And remember you can always drop us a note, send us an email at haven four four at city of Lynhaven.com. This is Haven 444. It's our city. And this has been a fourth to remember.