Fourth of July Festival committee looking for new members

The Fourth of July Festival and Community Picnic Planning Committee has lost two key members in Allen "Woody" Woodwick and committee chairperson Sherri Simonson, and the former is looking for members to fill these rolls as soon as possible.

Woodwick said he's optimistic that someone will step up to take the reins, but is concerned that the event may not happen this year if no one fills the void left by himself and Simonson.

He said he thinks this is a great opportunity for a service club to step in, and he's willing to help whoever takes over ease into the role and get the event off the ground during their first year.

Woodwick, who's been involved with the yearly event since it began more than 20 years ago, said he felt that it was time for him to step down and go back to experiencing the holiday more fully.

"I'm ready to let somebody else step in and take over, and enjoy my Fourth of July weekend a little more with my family," he said.

The celebration started with a parade down Fifth Avenue in 2001 and since has expanded to a major celebration in Pepin Park on Independence Day with food, music and companionship.

Woodwick said he and his brother's family were looking for something to do in Havre one Fourth of July and found few people stayed in town due to a lack of events.

"We heard a lot of people tell us that 'you can't do anything, because nobody sticks around,'" he said, but maybe if we did something to keep people around, folks like him would have things to do.

"It just started growing from there," he said.

He said the event would go on to draw more and more organizers and support until they started serving 2,500 hotdogs and hamburgers some years.

Simonson said she believes the event still has the potential to grow bigger if they keep on doing it, but it will need some leadership.

She said she left the committee because helping to organize the event from afar, after her move to Helena in 2016, has become prohibitively difficult.

Despite her distance, she said, she heard people saying they missed the event during its absence in 2020 and 2021 and the prospect of it not happening this year is disheartening.

She said if she could she'd love to keep serving on the committee, but at this point that just isn't possible for her.

She said being on the committee is a great deal of work, but it is very gratifying and they get a lot of community support.

"It is a big undertaking," she said.

Woodwick said the job of being on the committee requires a lot of organizing, from reserving the park to lining up insurance, getting the barbecue and food set up, as well as the band lineup and their equipment.

He said the committee has put together a document laying out how and when is the best time to do all of these things and guide a newcomer working to make it all happen.

"We have an owner's manual," he said.

Woodwick said organizing efforts generally start within the next month.

Simonson said she wanted to take the opportunity to thank the people who made the event possible for years including all the volunteers, the musicians, including Woodwick, and National Anthem singers.

She also thanked BNSF employees for supplying all of the hamburger for nearly 20 years, the city of Havre Parks and Recreation Department for ensuring the park was always ready to go the Parish Center for letting them use the building and kitchen, NorthWestern Energy and Havre Rental for the two large grills, and Ezzie's Wholesales for donating the propane for those grills.

Among the others she thanked were the Havre Lions Club for cooking the burgers since 2016, Gary & Leo's Fresh Foods for donating all of watermelon and their meat department for making all of the burgers, Northern for helping them order all of the food and ice, Coca-Cola Distributers for soda and water, Havre Scouts and Havre Girls Scouts for the Flag Ceremony and Bill Lanier for organizing it since 2016.

She also thanked Charlie and Lynn Steinmetz, for allowing them to use their cargo trailer to haul so much gear and always being willing to volunteer their time, Gregoire Insurance for always finding them a great deal on insurance coverage, Van Orsdel United Methodist Church for use of their kitchen and tables, the McIntosh family for storing all their gear, suppling paper products, and many raffle items, Ben Franklin for donations and face paint supplies, and her own family and friends for their support.

Simonson also thanked North 40 Outfitters, Downtown Gardens, Walmart, Subway, Valley Furniture, and Doney Greenhouse for their donations.

"On behalf of Vince Woodwick and his family, I want to give a huge thank you to the Havre community for helping to sustain this event with their generous donations and for coming out and celebrating the Fourth of July for nearly 20 years." she said in a statement this morning.

The event, a big part of the community's Independence Day celebration, has been away for two years already, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the first cancellations in its decades-long history.

Woodwick said they couldn't hold it in 2020 due to the restrictions on events, and last year they chose not to hold it just because there was so much uncertainty and they wanted to keep everyone safe.

He said he's hopeful someone will step up to the plate, but if not, this may be Havre's third year without the event.