Etna Green Planning July 4th Parade, Raising Funds For Fireworks
Posted
Jackie Gorski-
ETNA GREEN – Etna Green will have its second annual Fourth of July parade this year.
Josh Hartzell, owner of Hartzell Farm Feed & Supply LLC/Etna Elevator – the business in charge of putting the parade together – said Etna Green had Fourth of July parades before, but they were ended about 20 years ago, but he doesn’t know why. With a lot of community support, the parade was restarted in 2019.
The parade lineup is going to start at 10 a.m. July 4 in the alley between the Etna Green Fire Department and the Church of Christ. The parade will begin at 11 a.m.
Hartzell said they have had several people sign up to be part of the parade, but the Elevator will be taking applications until July 1. Anyone is welcome to join in the parade, not only town residents.
Last year, there were a lot of tractors, with some police in the parade. This year, the committee for the parade wanted to push a theme of American businesses, “but anyone is welcome,” Hartzell said. They’d like to get some people on floats. There is no fee to be part of the parade.
“Etna is a pretty small area,” he said, noting if it was just for residents, the town wouldn’t have much of a parade.
Hartzell said he isn’t exactly sure how many vendors have already signed up for the parade, but from the ones he’s spoken with, he said at least half a dozen vendors have signed up as of Thursday. Vendors are still able to sign up. Hartzell said it was sort of hard with vendors going from not having any business to trying to do something for the parade.
There will be a $15 fee to sign up to be a vendor at the parade, he said. The money will go toward the judges and the first-, second- and third-place prizes for the parade. Any money left over will go toward Heritage Park and renovating it.
To sign up for the parade or be a vendor, call the Etna Elevator at 574-858-0221; message the Etna Elevator on its Facebook page; or stop by the business to sign up in person.
Etna Elevator is also trying to put on Etna Green’s first fireworks show. Hartzell said he was able to talk to Crazy Joe’s Fireworks, 2549 CR 800W, Warsaw, and he was willing to donate some things to the show. Hartzell said it was suggested $2,000 to $3,000 should get the fireworks show going.
Some people at the Etna Elevator have donated money to get the fireworks show going, but Hartzell would like to see an additional $2,000 raised on top of what was already given “to make sure we’re not skimping on anything.”
In order to get that money, Hartzell said the money is being raised through T-shirt sales.
The first design will have a red, white and blue flag and an eagle on the front, with the Etna Elevator on the back. A second design is being done with a similar design, but will be promoting area businesses.
Pricing for the T-shirts will be $12 for sizes from xxsmall to 1X and $13 from 2X to 5X. To order the T-shirts, Hartzell said people can call the Etna Elevator or the Etna Café.
According to Etna Elevator’s Facebook page, fireworks will start at 10 p.m.
Other events that will happen during the Fourth of July festivities will be a festival that will start after the parade ends, a dunk tank, a dance between 7 and 9 p.m. for teens and a Samaritans flyover between noon and 12:30 p.m., according to the Facebook page.
Three-on-three basketball will be at 1 p.m. Contact Matt Damron at 574-253-3341 to sign up for the basketball tournament.
