Celebrating the 4th on the 5th?......WHAT?

[Greg]

I live in Southport, NC which claims to be Home of the NC 4th of July Festival.....and they do a hell of a job so it is true that they have the best celebration in the state. With the exception of flying to Colorado one year to hop in a truck and help my sister drive back to NC (30 hours nonstop driving) I HAVE NEVER MISSED THE FESTIVAL! But this year they have done the most absurd thing ever.....They are moving the 4th of July celebration to the 5th

I believe their logic behind this....if you even want to call it logic....is Southport is a small town with few roads. When they do the parade the roads are shut down from 6am-2pm. With the 4th being on a Sunday this year that would prevent people from getting to a couple churches and the parade would happen during church. I wasnt told this but this is the only reason why I can think they would move it. Couldn't they have just pushed the parade back a little bit?

Our community and surrounding areas economy rely heavily on tourism and thats just how we survive around here....it gets dead in the winter and to be honest I LOVE IT THEN (dont have to deal with the bs traffic due to the lack of roads) My big concern is that all the tourist that come down here to enjoy the famous 4th of July celebration are going to have no idea that it has been moved to the 5th....I didnt find out until several days ago. And since most of us probably have the 5th off as a holiday they probably plan to drive home on the 5th. And if I came down here as a tourist to celebrate the 4th and they moved it to the 5th I'd be pretty ticked off and probably not come back. I sure hope I am wrong and Southport hasnt lost a lot of tourists that keep this town afloat in such tough economic times. In our local newpaper in the "Letter to the Editor" section every letter except one was people just livid about the move. With that much of a response you'd think theres something wrong and hopefully they got the hint to NEVER DO THIS AGAIN!

Has anyone else heard of other towns changing the birthday of America? What are your thoughts on this? It's called the "4th of July, not the 5th

[Gilbert P]

Greg

Are you kidding I guess church is more important than the local economy

Party like a rock star

Gil