Blue Grass to Hold 4th of July “Extravaganza”

Looking for something to do this Fourth of July? Someplace to go where you can let somebody else do the cooking, while you and your family enjoy games, live music, and fun and fellowship with your friends and neighbors? Then look no further than the town of Blue Grass. Come this Saturday, the small community will hold it’s annual parade and lawn party in celebration of our country’s birth.

The tradition began over a decade ago, with what was then billed as “The World’s Smallest Parade”, featuring local kids and ending with ice cream for all. The event grew to include the evening lawn party, an alcohol-free event suitable for young and old,  which is sponsored by the Blue Grass Ruritan Club. President Doris Folks explained more.

“We’re having a, we call it a Fourth of July extravaganza, on the actual Fourth. The parade starts at 5:00, at the Ruritan building and marches down to the Post Office, and it ends almost before it starts. It’s just the littlest parade in Virginia, and it’s a children’s parade, and it’s not very far, but everybody just loves to come, and watch the kids. Then Sierra Losh performs at 7:00, and the lawn party starts immediately after the parade.

“We have horseshoes that people can pitch, we have ring toss – just different things we have set up around the back of the building, that everybody can enjoy.

“We have homemade pies, and ice cream, and cookies and hot dogs and french fries – the whole ten yards.”

“It’s a wonderful turn-out, and the club appreciates all the support that we get from the community.”

The Blue Grass Ruritans, as with all civic organizations throughout Highland County, help area citizens in a number of ways – scholarships, sponsorship of fair activities, help for the elderly and shut ins and much more. They also offer use of their building and pavilion for community needs. Civic organizations rely on fund-raising to support their community efforts, but Ms. Folks was quick to point out that the lawn party was not meant to raise money.

“This is really a community project – we don’t do it for the benefit of the club, but for the benefit of the community. We don’t want it to be a profit making venture – we want it to be, truly, a community service.”