Help sought for Fourth of July

The traditional Fourth of July Festivities will again be held this year, but organizer Vince Woodwick hopes he can attract some people to take over the project.

The festivities were started 14 years ago by Vince and his brother Woody. A group of people got together to celebrate the Fourth at the park.

But little by little, it expanded into a communitywide celebration. The event includes several bands performing, a ton of food and face-paintings, balloon creations and games for kids.

Last year, 1,500 people showed up for the event.

It has become quite a tradition. A couple who met at the picnic a couple of years back will get married this July 4, though they haven't given in to Vince's request that they get married at the picnic.

Woody takes care of the music side of things, arranging for the bands and the stages.

But Vince has always taken charge of the other part, arranging for contributions of food and money, making sure food is delivered, volunteers are available to serve and people are there to provide amusements to the kids.

Vince said his health is declining, and he no longer has the energy to do all that work.

Last year, he got some help, but this year, he's back on his own, and he has put out a plea to the community to help out.

He would like to have a person or people take charge and make all the arrangements so the festivities can go on as they always have.

He said he can walk people through the work and help them out this year so they can take over all the work next year.

The project would be excellent for a service group to embark upon, he said.

"It takes quite a bit of running around to feed 1,500 people," he said.

In addition to the food, games and music, the raffles have to be arranged.

There are a good cadre of local businesses and individuals who are willing to donate prizes, he said. But they all have to be contacted and arrangements made to get the prizes to the park.

In the worst case scenario, he said, the event could become a bring-your-own-picnic type of event. People could bring whatever they want to eat and listen to the music and play the games.

But he said Havre usually steps forward to help out when help is needed.