8th Annual Fireworks Festival

It never gets old. This was the 8th year that Emmanuel Baptist Church partnered with the Greater Hartsville Chamber of Commerce to host the Family Fireworks Festival on our campus. The crowd annually exceeds the population of our city and the event includes: a full carnival, car show, food & craft vendors, a kiddie section, stage entertainment, gymnastics, dance teams, and of course... the largest fireworks display in Darlington County!

The event is not done for profit, but rather as a service for the community. The cost of the event was underwritten by the following major sponsors: City of Hartsville, LifeCare Hospice, NUCOR, Raceway Automotive, and Sonoco. Additional sponsors included Norton Funeral Home and SPC Credit Union.

To pull off an event this size requires nearly 100 volunteers and my thanks goes out to every one of you. We could not do it without you! We used the City of Hartsville's mobile stage, Senator Malloy served as the MC, the band "Nonymous" (and yes it's spelled correctly) provided the entertainment, Mcleod Farms sponsored the pie eating contest, Sonic sponsored the hotdog eating contest, Krispy Kreme provided the donuts, Carolina Printing donated the trophies, Koss Motor Sports organized the car show, Pleasant Valley Stables coordinated the Kids Zone, Coker College provided the golf carts, the Sheriff's Dept., SC State Troopers, and Hartsville Fire Dept provided the safety and traffic control, and I apologize if I left someone out. Thank you to everyone who had a part, especially the congregation of Emmanuel for your vision and desire to be a church that is involved in our community.

My thanks also to the Chamber of Commerce. This was its last year to partner with Emmanuel, but we appreciate the opportunity to work together. The event will go on and we've been approached by other entities desiring to partner. We will obviously need more sponsors, but we're certain that God will provide. In fact, we already had vendors register for next year, and we are looking at rearranging the layout to double our vendors and grow the event. Mark your calendars for the Friday, before July 4.

Thank you, again, to everyone who came out to celebrate Independence Day with us!