FREEDOM FEST IS PRODUCED & MANAGED BY
FREEDOM FEST J U L Y
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Celebrating Tradition
The annual Freedom Fest event uses over 4,000 fireworks, making them one of the biggest fireworks shows in the Central Valley. CLOVIS ROUNDUP FILE PHOTO
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The annual Clovis Freedom Fest celebration has grown and blossomed into one of the largest fireworks shows in the Central Valley. A large part of that is thanks to the Clovis Kiwanis Club, a service
organization that has ran the event for the last 21 years. “We took the Freedom Fest celebration over from the Clovis Chamber of Commerce in 1998,” said Eddie DeLeon of the Clovis Kiwanis Club and Co-Chair of Freedom Fest. “They gave it up in ‘96, the show went dark in 1997, we took it over in
The Clovis Way of Life CONTRIBUTED CITY OF CLOVIS
When Spanish missionaries arrived in the central San Joaquin Valley in 1806, they discovered the Pitkachi band of Yokuts Indians living as they had for over 5,000 years. These Native Americans lived off the land that was often described as the “Garden of Eden” due to the plentiful availability of food resources to plant, harvest, and hunt. After gold was discovered in California on Jan. 24, 1848, some 300,000 men, women and children rushed to California from all over the world. Although some of
these “forty-niners” found gold and became wealthy, most either returned home broke or were forced to find other types of work in the area. It was this second group of pioneers that formed the community that would eventually become Clovis. They brought with them the dreams and determination that helped establish the code of work and social ethics that we still call “The Clovis Way of Life.” In 1872, the pioneer family of Stephen H. Cole homesteaded 320 acres of government land in the Red Bank district (near the current corner of Shaw and DeWolf aveSee CLOVIS WAY OF LIFE, Pg. 3
1998. We have organized, contracted and done the entire show ourselves as a service club since 1998.” However, the event wasn’t always as big of a hit as it is today. After the Chamber relinquished its duties from hosting it, the Kiwanians stepped into some unfamiliar territory – and that created some
challenges. “The very first year we sat around a conference table and said, “What do we do?,” said DeLeon. “Well, we have to find a fireworks company, food vendors, facilities, etc. So, we literally just sat around, wrote down See TRADITION, Pg. 6
How Fireworks Became a Fourth of July Tradition quite a bit over the past 241 years. But the origins of fireworks go back centuries before the discovery Fireworks are a very American of America. tradition. We see them on New The earliest forms of such pyYear’s Eve, at sporting events, grad- rotechnics can be traced to a little uations, and at Disneyland. But they over 2,000 years ago in China. are especially tied to the Fourth of During the Han Dynasty, people are July. As a matter of fact, there were said to have roasted bamboo stalks fireworks at the first Independence until they would turn black and Day celebration in Philadelphia in sizzle, and the air inside the hollow 1777. Back then there were no elab- stalks would explode. “Baozhu” is a orate sparkles – no red, white, and Mandarin word for firecracker that blue stars. It was nothing more than translates directly to “exploding a few glorified (although uplifting) bamboo.” explosions in the sky. And there was Over the next 1,000 years, the only one color: orange. Clearly, fireworks have evolved See FIREWORKS, Pg. 6 CONTRIBUTED
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