By Fred Guarino

The Lowndes Signal

There are two Fourth of July events on tap in Lowndes County today including the annual town of Lowndesboro Fourth of July parade and program and the annual Hayneville Baptist Church Fourth of July Celebration.

The annual Lowndesboro Fourth of July parade will begin at Lowndes Academy at 8:30 a.m. and continue on to Ruby S. Moore Park where retired Col. George M. McCurdy III will be the guest speaker.

“To me, this is what small town America is,” Lowndesboro Mayor Rick Pate said in describing his town’s annual parade. “I mean, you can be patriotic here. You can show you love of country. And little towns, we can stop the traffic for 30 minutes and let the children and dogs and horses walk down Main Street.” McCurdy, who hales from Lowndesboro, worked with the guard as an anti-terrorism office at the 187th Fighter Wing. He was in the Air National Guard mobilized to Kosovo, was at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia during Operation Enduring Freedom and at Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The Lowndesboro tradition also continues with the Alabama Air National Guard Color Guard from the 187th Fighter Wing at Dannelly Field in Montgomery, which has performed for about 25 years. The unit is present the flags that have flown over the United States since before the American Revolution. There will also be watermelon, lemonade and cake and the churches of the town will be selling Boston Butts as a fund-raiser for Lowndes Academy. The Hayneville Baptist Church’s annual 4th of July Celebration begins at 5:30 p.m. at the church. There will be a BBQ dinner, a children’s parade and fireworks show, which will began at dark. This year an added treat will be the Kempters, a family bluegrass band prior to the fireworks show. “We are inviting everyone to attend this annual celebration of our nation’s independence. We ask that people bring a lawn chair or blanket to watch the fireworks display as there is no seating outside,” said Lowndes County District Court Judge Adrian D. Johnson.