You’ve got to fight for your right…

To party!

Marion County is host to not 1, not 2, but 3 amazing Independence Day Celebrations!

We’ve got what you expect! We’ve got parades. We’ve got red. We’ve got white. We’ve got blue and fireworks galore!

But we also have what you’ve never seen before.

Mannington’s 1st Annual All-Merican Redneck Olympic Games

We’ll give you a rundown of some of what this entails. Maybe you want to try to watch, and maybe you’re brave enough to participate:

• Hog Call Contest- 16  and under. Winner takes home the bacon… literally
• Tin Can Body Bowlin’– games for both adults and children
• White Trash bag Relay Race– kids
• Armpit Serenade (Merican Idol)– 16 and under

These games won’t be the most beautiful sight, but they might just be the most unique!

Aside from that craziness, Mannington has…

Good Old-Fashioned July 4

Spend some of your Independence Day down in Mannington with the area’s largest cake walk. (I don’t know if this means the cakes are physically the area’s largest, but a girl can dream!)

It’s not just a parade anymore. Gawk at the bicycle decorating contest filling the streets! Bounce in a bounce house, and take a dip in the pool— both completely free.

Don’t forget to appreciate American ingenuity, invention, and mechanical marvel with an antique engine display (from Civil War times? I don’t think they existed then).

And if you can hack it, corn hole it! Cornhole tournament at 6:30 p.m. Partners must pre-register by 4:30.

Hang around to see what has the potential to be the most beautiful sight of the night: the sky lantern ceremony. Purchase a lantern any time of the day for $5.

Bring chairs, blankets and tents and settle in for evening-long activities, or sit back and take in the entertainment!

Keep it Retro

Fairview’s old fashioned July 4th celebration, “Our First Freedoms,” honors our First Amendment rights.

Festivities include:

• the grand parade at 10 a.m.
• a concert by the Fairview Community Band
• entertainment from the FSU Academy for the Arts
• guest speaker Mr. Jim Slade, a Morgantown native whose work as a journalist and science correspondent for places like NASA and ABC News spans fifty years
• music from Kingdom Calling, Kennedy Barn String Band and Jenna Won’t Sing
• fireworks at 10 p.m.

For more information, visit www.fairview4th.org.

Best plan of attack? Fairview at 10 a.m., Mannington at 3 p.m., then on to Fairmont… Red, white & BOOM!

Back to the Future!

• Who knew PA did bluegrass? Well, they do and they do it well- Mama Corn, 4:15 p.m.
  

  Blog author: Leah Nestor

• Bluegrass and country music with a touch of rockabilly twang-The Marshall Lowry Band, 5:30 p.m. How have I gone my whole life without ever learning these words?
• Country rock or rockin’ country? Doesn’t matter if it’s Katie Ohh (from NBC’s “And the Winner Is”), 7 p.m.
• Get your fix on up-and-coming country hits with American Idol Josh Gracin, 8:30 p.m. Hit ‘em hard!
• Fireworks, 10 p.m. No elaboration necessary.