Live Oak Melody Church of Live Oak will be hosting their inaugural Freedom Fest on Saturday, June 29. Pastor Darrin Baldwin hopes that this celebration of freedom and fun will become an annual family tradition.

Freedom Fest 2013 will start off with the Firecracker 5K marathon. Registration will open at 7:15 a.m., the race will start at 8 a.m. at Melody, and it will end back at Melody with an awards ceremony at 8:45 a.m.

Following the marathon, the bulk of the days activities will begin with a welcome and opening prayer at 3 p.m. with Cyndi Skierski singing the National Anthem. Throughout the day there will be live music from the Jamie Davis Band, Tall Bear, Amber Lee Abbott, and Jeremiah Ross, as well as a performance from Twirling by Kary.

Other activities to enjoy at Freedom Fest will include food and craft vendors, all American car show, water slides, dodgeball tournament, face painting, kids play area, pony rides, and 4-H petting zoo, all ongoing from 3 to 9 p.m.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) of Lake City will be recognizing our local heroes in uniform onstage from 5 to 6 p.m. Veterans, currently serving military men and women, and emergency first responders are invited to attend this special ceremony where the VFW will call them up from the crowd to honor them for their service. Purses from the Firecracker 5K and the car show will be donated to the VFW.

Freedom Fest will conclude with a dazzling professional fireworks show at 9:15 p.m.

Live Oak doesnt really have a Fourth of July celebration, Heidi Hofer, Melodys outreach coordinator, said. We saw a gap for that, and were hoping to reach out to the community with this patriotic event.

Food and craft vendors and car show competitors are welcome to apply for a spot at http://www.melodychurch.com. The tentative deadline to register is June 25.

Melody Church is currently looking for business sponsors and community partners to help donate funds to cover the cost of fireworks and other activities. Volunteers are also needed for the day of the event. To donate or volunteer, please contact Hofer at 386-364-4800 or hhofer@melodychurch.com.

We want to celebrate the greatest nation in the world and thank God we are able to enjoy our freedom here, Pastor Baldwin said.

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Freedom Fest to celebrate America