Eastpoint festival to kick off Fourth festivities
There’s going to be four straight nights of fireworks in Franklin County over the Independence Day holiday, and Eastpoint is gearing up to getting the ball rolling with its second annual Freedom festival on Saturday, July 1.
After that it’s going to Carrabelle on Sunday, Apalachicola on Monday and St. George Island on Tuesday, July 4.
At a meeting of the Eastpoint Civic Association Monday night at the firehouse, planners outlined plans for the festival, which begins at 4 p.m., with fireworks set to go off roughly in the 9 to 9:30 p.m. range.
They’ll be spending upwards of $20,000 on fireworks, so a big show is expected, shot from a barge in Apalachicola Bay.
They’ll be a half-dozen food trucks in the area around the former Ard’s Service Station and Tires, with School Road and Shuler Street closed off.
Jimmy Sapp, one of the organizers, said churches, businesses and private individuals are welcome to set up as well beginning in the morning, but they’ll have to bring their own rigs, tables and other gear.
The organizers have raised thousands of dollars from Eastpoint businesses for the event, but they have come from other places as well, including from an oyster dealer in Texas who sent a donation to Lynn Martina, one of the festival organizers.
Ronnie Segree will kick off the music at 4:30 p.m., with the house band from the Red Pirate starting about 90 minutes after that, and then the headliner, the Ashley Morgan Band, sometime before 8 p.m.
The organizers plan to offer free hot dogs and shaved ice to kids, but they’ll have to secure a ticket from the association booth.
The organizers are continuing to bring in donations, which include all kinds of perks depending on the size, including t-shirts that will be otherwise sold at the event.
For more information or to donate, email info@eastpointfl.org or call Martina at 850-899-7577; Mishelle McPherson at 850-670-575; or Rex Pennycuff at 850-670-8808.
Meet the Editor
David Adlerstein, The Apalachicola Times’ digital editor, started with the news outlet in January 2002 as a reporter.
Prior to then, David Adlerstein began as a newspaperman with a small Boston weekly, after graduating magna cum laude from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He later edited the weekly Bellville Times, and as business reporter for the daily Marion Star, both not far from his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
In 1995, he moved to South Florida, and worked as a business reporter and editor of Medical Business newspaper. In Jan. 2002, he began with the Apalachicola Times, first as reporter and later as editor, and in Oct. 2020, also began editing the Port St. Joe Star.