The Fourth prevails

Mother Nature almost stole the show for the Fourth of July celebration here in Newcastle. However, try though she did, the good people of the city were bound and determined to proclaim our continued liberty. Although the early morning hours threatened with rain and wind, the storm backed off enough for the parade and the scheduled speeches to occur in the downtown area. And at the Fourth at the Four Way concert, a bit of shifting around was done, but Newcastle enjoyed an excellent show by recording star Neal McCoy.
The day started early for members of the News Letter Journal and the Weston County Arts Council, sponsors for the parade and special events that took place in the parking lot of Isabella’s Restaurant. A stage was set up and decorated against the Weston County Title building with patriotic decor, a podium, a flag, and some flowers.  At 11, the parade started from the high school and proceeded down Main Street. While the storms diminished the participation this year, the downtown street was still blocked off, and several hundred people brought out their lawn chairs, drinks, kids, and dogs, and cheered as the parade passed. 
After the parade, a fire truck raised the American Flag over the parking lot at Isabella’s Restaurant. John Barker then gave a speech as President Teddy Roosevelt to the appreciative crowd. After his, presentation, Dawnyell Nagle took the stage as Nellie Tayloe Ross, the first female governor in the United States, articulating women’s rights, to the cheers of cowboys in the audience. While both people did give speeches in Newcastle, Tom Voss wrote these for the actors using the words of Roosevelt and Ross. The city was then honored to have our local veterans fold the flag. Overall, the spirit of this event was uplifting, patriotic, and well received.
At 4 p.m. the Pinnacle Bank parking lot was transformed into an outdoor auditorium for an evening of concerts, food, drinks, and just plain fun. The bank, sponsor for the event, sold about 600 tickets, but the crowd appeared to be quite a bit larger.
The concerts started close to 5 with Nate Smith and the Caddywhompus Band. The audience was enthusiastic and appreciative of this local band, and several people danced and sang along with the songs. 
After they played for about an hour, the stage was then re-set. The original plan was to have The Williams Brothers Band play, then finish with Neal McCoy just before the regular fireworks display by the Newcastle Volunteer Fire Department. However, Mother Nature decided she had “put off” long enough, and reports started coming in of severe thunderstorms heading to town. So the plans changed on the fly. It was decided to have Neal McCoy go on before the storms got to the city and to have The Williams Brothers Band move across 85 to play at the Fountain Inn.
To say Neal McCoy delighted the audience would be a gross understatement. People got out of their chairs and swarmed the stage for the entire concert as McCoy performed a top-notch show, filled with favorite songs from his career as well as classics of other artists. The two highlights of the show were real crowd pleasers. First, he had Laynie Sears, one of Newcastle’s youngsters, come up and lead the audience in the “Pledge of Allegiance.” Secondly, McCoy led the entire crowd in a heartfelt rendition of “How Great Thou Art.” It was a very rousing concert that ended far
too soon.  
But the rains were not going to be held back anymore, so all who wanted to keep the celebration going went to see The Williams Brothers Band at the Fountain Inn.  According to James Williams, lead singer, and guitarist for the band, several hundred people crammed into the place and the party lasted until well after midnight.
The day was a success for Newcastle when you consider how hard the storms tried to put a halt to all of our celebrations. But the American Spirit won out in the end, and the level of participation by the city is something in which I think we can all be proud. The only down-side was that the fireworks display cancellation as the storm came in full force with heavy winds and downpours. And while the lightning was not the show we wanted, it was still impressive, and once the storm blew over you could hear and see the people of Newcastle shooting their own fireworks, lighting up the sky with colorful flowers, and scaring every dog with loud explosions well into the night. For this reporter, I had my fourth celebration and enjoyed myself thoroughly, shooting off several rockets myself.