Remembering what it’s all about

A Port Jervis celebration puts the “Independence” back in Independence Day

WHEN: Wednesday, July 4, 6:30 p.m.

WHERE: Riverside Park, City of Port Jervis, NY. In case of rain, at Fellowship Hall in the Drew United Methodist Church, 49-51 Broome Street.

COST: Free.

CONTACT: 845/856-2375.

PORT JERVIS, NY — Everyone associates July 4 with fireworks, barbeques and storewide sales. It is all too easy to forget what the holiday really celebrates: the day that this nation declared its independence, the document that contained that declaration and the principles it contains. The City of Port Jervis will provide us with a timely reminder of those principles on July 4, 2007, at 6:30 p.m. at Riverside Park, where celebrants will hear the Declaration of Independence read aloud.

The program, called “Our Day of Deliverance,” is sponsored by the Minisink Valley Historical Society, the Port Jervis Centennial Committee, Office of the City Historian and the City of Port Jervis. For those who want to walk to the program, a processional of the readers will begin at Orange Square on Sussex Street at 6:00 p.m., and take about 30 minutes. Attendees are invited to sign a copy of the declaration that will hang in the city’s municipal building.

After the reading of the declaration, a musical program of popular patriotic tunes will begin at 7:30 p.m. with the Broome Street Band and Rich Wilson at the bandstand in the park. There will also be a historical presentation reviewing the events leading up to and immediately following the issuance of the declaration, with music by the Fife and Drummers of the Broome Street Band.

The evening will be topped off with the traditional fireworks, at approximately 9:30 p.m., courtesy of Howard Kuperman, who has a special affection for the Fourth of July because it is his birthday, and Phil’s Ford/Lincoln Mercury/Jeep of Port Jervis.

In the event of rain, the program will take place at Fellowship Hall in the Drew United Methodist Church at 49-51 Broome Street at 6:30 p.m.

Attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs or blankets and water.