The City of Alcoa is making final preparations for FreedomFest 2018. The City’s 40th edition of the tremendously popular Independence Day celebration is set for this Saturday, June 30th from 6:00 p.m. until 11:00 p.m. at the Alcoa Duck Pond. The entire community is invited to attend the exciting family fun filled event.
The world renowned Pyro Shows, Inc., a fireworks production company headquartered in LaFollette, Tennessee, will again provide the event’s patriotic firepower.
For the thirteenth year, the spectacular fireworks show will be choreographed to ever popular music for all ages ranging from patriotic to pop hits. The flurry of colorful explosives will include over 9,000 shells sized from 3” to 8”. All will propel into the skies over the water transforming the sky into a wall of color accompanied by thundering, earth shaking booms. To enhance their beauty and drama, individual fireworks are synchronized to specific elements in the music creating dramatic scenes that defy the imagination. The music will be broadcast by way of speakers along Springbrook Road bordering the Duck Pond.
In addition to the impressive display of pyrotechnics, Glenn Morton will be emceeing the event at the entertainment stage located in the Duck Pond parking lot. Nuthin’ Fancy will kick off the entertainment on stage from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The local southern rock band features renditions of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Allman Brothers, Marshall Tucker, The Black Crowes, and BlackBerry Smoke. Headlining the entertainment is another local favorite, Smooth Groove. Led by Leonard Ervin, they take the stage at 8:00 p.m. breaking for the 20-minute fireworks spectacle at approximately 9:40 p.m. Entertainers will return to the stage at the end of the pyrotechnic presentation to treat event goers to music and “dancing in the street”. Food vendors will operate on the same schedule, stopping only for the 20-minute fireworks display. Plan to stay and enjoy more music, food and fun!
A children's area will be located between the Duck Pond and Springbrook Pool. Activities will included a Knox Rocks climbing wall, bounce house, inflatable slide, obstacle courses, sandbox, tattoos, and face painting by Faces Gone Wild and Making Faces along with virtual reality games with Haul VR.
A wide variety of food will be available with 20 food vendors present: Artistic Pops, B & D Concessions (Mother Shuckers), Blazing Flames Hot Dogs, Chadwick’s Creamery, Chef Mo’s Café and Catering, Chuck's Concessions, Fire Truck Homemade Ice Cream, Geno’s Curbside Diner, Huff Farm Sweet Corn, Mamma Gallinas, Quick Fix Coffee, Parrott’s Concessions, Rainbo Ice & Funnel Cakes, REO Cheesewagon, Smoky Mountain Kettle Korn, Smoky Mountain Snow, TC’s Grill, West Marketing Italian Ice, and Williams’ Foods.
The City of Alcoa will set up an information booth at the intersection of Springbrook Road and Lodge Street. The booth will also serve those with lost and found items and anyone needing emergency medical assistance.
Bicycles, skateboards, hover boards, roller blades, and skates are prohibited in the event area as well as alcohol, pets, and animals. Those bicycling the greenway are asked not to enter the event area due to the congestion and heavy pedestrian traffic. Attendees should not bring any pet or animal onto the event site other than animals used for the impaired. Dogs and other animals can be sensitive to the noise of fireworks and can disturb other event attendees. Event goers are reminded that any type of fireworks are banned from the event area with the exception of those handled by the Pyro Shows for the show.
All entrances to Alcoa Elementary School will be barricaded and closed for event preparation. These areas will be closed to all traffic both motorized and pedestrian. Anyone traveling in or around the Alcoa Little League Park and elementary school are asked to remain on the greenway trail outside the safety zones.
Beginning at 12:00 a.m., Saturday, June 30, 2018, the Alcoa Duck Pond parking lot will be closed along with Springbrook Road between Faraday and Edison Streets. They will remain closed until no later than 8:00 a.m., Sunday, July 1, 2018.
Limited handicapped parking overlooking the Duck Pond will be located at the end of the Alcoa Intermediate School (AIS) parking lot and may be reached by entering the Lodge Street entrance to Alcoa High School (AHS) then on to the intermediate school lot. Access to this handicapped area is on a first come basis.
Thanks to Alcoa Inc., attendees can again park in the company’s pasture located at the corner of Springbrook Road and E. Edison Street. It has been prepared by employees of the City of Alcoa Public Works and Engineering Department and should provide parking for 200 to300 vehicles. The entrance gate is located along Springbrook Road across from the former fire hall. The Alcoa High School parking lots off Lodge Street will be open with access from Faraday Street.
Following the event, officers will also be directing traffic out of the Alcoa Inc. pasture southbound onto Springbrook Rd. which will be one-way to N. Wright Rd., then N. Wright will be one-way to E. Lincoln Rd. “We are very grateful to our friends at the aluminum company for continuing to work with us to improve the parking and traffic flow for the community. We appreciate their community involvement by allowing us to again use their property. This should help tremendously with the ever present parking crunch and post event traffic,” said City Manager Mark Johnson. Those exiting the AHS and AIS parking areas will exit onto Lodge Street, to Faraday St., then onto Mills St. to Alcoa Hwy/Hunt Rd.
A swifter exit will be available with the temporary opening of the newly built, but yet unopened, Tesla Blvd. Event goers can take Faraday St. to Tesla Blvd., then turn left onto Tesla Blvd., then right on to Associates Blvd. to the red light at Associates Blvd. and Hall Rd. From there, drivers can make either a right toward Alcoa Hwy, or turn left toward Maryville as signaled.
The City of Alcoa and the Alcoa City Schools Foundation want to express their gratitude for the support of the following sponsors: Gold Sponsors: Arconic, Inc., Denso, and Knoxville TVA Employees Credit Union; Silver: Accenture, American Home, Blount Memorial Hospital, C2RL, Inc., Cannon & Cannon, Contractors Machinery, First Tennessee Bank, Gresham Smith and Partners, Lawler-Wood LLC, LDA Engineering, Leaffitter North, Matlock Tire Service, Optimal Health, Paradise Home Improvement, Russell Abbott Heat and Cooling, and U.S. Cellular. Twenty percent of the sponsorship funds go to support the foundation.
For more information visit www.cityofalcoa-tn.gov/freedomfest.
-END-