The 4th of July

The 4th of July. Independence Day and my neighbor, Sandy Rushton is smack dab in the middle of it all. Sandy works for WAGT NBC 26. She is the events coordinator for the station and for six months, with the help of Yolanda Marshall, Riverwalk Special Events, Peggy Maddox, who is in charge of the stage schedules and the sales department at WAGT they have pulled off a spectacular 4th of July show.
The sales department spent all day Monday July 3 putting up all the signs, banners, and helping get all the vendors in place. This year, the fourth year WAGT and Sandy have done this event, there were approximately 110 vendors. Food and Craft vendors, free rides for the kids set up in two locations, four stages for entertainment; the Fort Gordon Signal Corp band along with Jazz, R & B, Rock and the Master’s City Cloggers. Displays needing the sales department’s direction included the Jelly Bean VW, the Rollover simulator from the Georgia Department of Highway Safety, Savannah River Ecology Lab, Savannah River Archeology Research group, the Augusta Southern Nationals boat display, a car and bike show and much, much more. Along with misting tents, MCG Safe vans, I. D. kits for kids, pony rides, MacDonald’s handing out free hand fans, a moonwalk and shuttle vans to move people to and fro, Sandy and her group worked tirelessly to coordinate it all. WAGT’s Production Department as well as the news crews had their hands in all of this too. The six o’clock news broadcast from the site and the production crew worked extremely hard to pull all this off without a hitch.
This year’s sponsors included MCG, KFC, Publix, Windsor Jewelers, Clear Channel and the City of Augusta. MCG was responsible for the main event, the breathtaking fireworks display put on by Melrose Pyrotechnics with Augusta’s own Craig Butler the fireworks technician. MCG was displayed in an enormous fireworks logo as a thank you for their sponsorship.
However, it wasn’t just WAGT and Augusta who lent a hand. Our own Sgt. Tim Pearson met with Sandy on numerous occasions to coordinate our side of this undertaking. From escorting the truck load of fireworks to closing off 5th Street bridge to reducing the 13th Street bridge to one lane traffic to overseeing and coordinating our Public Safety Officers in an effort to maintain a smooth safe event, Sgt. Pearson and North Augusta Public Safety did a wonderful job especially considering last year’s crowd on our side were estimated at thirty thousand.
Richmond County had approximately 46 officers on the ground at the event plus patrolling carts and cars. Augusta Fire Department’s Chief Willis and the firepersons working with him, ensured all was safe and within code. Volunteers from Fort Gordon, the Shriners, the Augusta Links and individuals such as Marlon Carpenter were also on hand to make this 4th of July celebration a smooth and memorable event.
Sandy is a self-proclaimed organizer who thrives in situations like these. We spoke at length about all the preparations, all the phone calls, meetings and cooperation she needed and received to make this all happen for us. She joked about having a cell phone in one ear and a walkie-talkie in the other on event day. We spoke of the lack of sponsors on our side of the river and hope that our side will change that next year given that we also enjoy the show and we claim part ownership of Savannah River and the 4th of July is everyone’s Independence Day. After our discussion, I came away in awe of the enormity of what my neighbor had pulled off and very pleased that she is my neighbor thereby enriching our neighborhood.