GENTRY -- Plans are being finalized for this year's Freedom Festival in Gentry City Park. The annual July 4 celebration will begin at noon on Thursday, July 4, and continue until dark, when one of the largest fireworks displays in the region lights up the sky.
The day will include games and activities for children, live music all day and into the evening, vendor booths, displays, Safari animals, pageants, a car show and, of course, lots of fireworks at dusk.
The featured entertainment this year is the Ozark Mountain Daredevils, a band which has been around since the group began playing in Springfield, Mo., in 1971.
According to the band's website, the group "included musicians Larry Lee, Steve Cash, Michael Supe Granda, John Dillon, Buddy Brayfield and Randle Chowning. In the beginning, they called themselves the Family Tree, then Burlap Socks and then the Emergency Band. But finally, in a nod to Commander Cody who was one of their musical heroes, they settled on the catchy moniker of Cosmic Corncob & His Amazing Ozark Mountain Daredevils -- The Ozark Mountain Daredevils, for short.
The website states that "the Ozark Mountain Daredevils have been aptly described as 'a ragtag collection of hippies, bohemians and musicians of no fixed ambition.' They have always been indefinable in terms of music genres, producing sounds of country-rock and electric bluegrass all on the same record -- writing lyrics both whimsical and poetic, singing harmonies that would send shivers up your spine."
Current band members include John Dillon, Steve Cash, Michael Supe Granda, Bill Jones, Ruell Chappell, Ron Gremp, Dave Painter, Kelly Brown, Nick Sibley and Molly Healy.
Their well-known songs include "If You Wanna Get To Heaven," "Jackie Blue," "Chicken Train," "Standing On The Rock," and countless others.
Also on the bill for July 4 will be the Kaylin Cripps Band, The Dawn Cates Band, Healey & Cardwell, Mark Shields & the Diablos, and Marshall Mitchell and his cowboy songs for kids.
For more information on events, activities and times, contact the Gentry Chamber of Commerce at 479-736-2358 or visit the Chamber's website.
Those attending the event are reminded that, for safety reasons, pets are not allowed in the park during the July 4 festival.
General News on 06/26/2019