Fun Fourth Festival in downtown Greensboro kicks off on Monday, July 3 with the Freedom 5K and 10K run; start time is 7:15 p.m. in the 300 block of South Greene Street.
The American Block Party runs from 7 to 11 p.m. at the Elm Street and Greene Street parking lot (near Natty Greene’s) with music provided by Liquid Pleasure and Eric & the Chill Tones. Admission is free.
Tuesday, July 4, the traditional Fun Fourth Festival will be held downtown from 1 to 8 p.m.
The fireworks will be in the First National Bank Field beginning at 9 p.m.
And that looks like a pretty full day at North Carolina’s largest Fourth of July festival.
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The world famous Kirkwood Parade began in 1949 with four families marching around the neighborhood. In the intervening decades, the parade has grown, but not too much; it’s just more families marching, pedaling and driving around the neighborhood.
The Kirkwood Parade begins promptly about 5 p.m. on Tuesday, July 4 on Independence Road between Princess Ann Street and Delaware Avenue. Anyone can join the parade or come and watch those who do. It’s a bona fide Greensboro experience.
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This week, while North Eugene Street was still closed, the city closed North Elm. Reportedly, North Eugene opened back up to traffic on Wednesday. But it doesn’t appear the city has any consideration for people who work, eat or play downtown. Isn’t there any coordination of the projects?
And along those same lines, the city has no problem closing two of the main north-south streets in the downtown at the same time, yet it is impossible for the city to make Greene Street two-way. Mayors and city councilmembers have been lobbying for it for years, but nobody appears to have the clout to force the the city to do it.
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Craig Blitzer, the former district attorney Rockingham County, and Wallace Bradsher, the former district attorney for Person and Caswell counties, were trusted by the people and paid by the state to uphold the law. The two were caught in a scheme where they each hired the other one’s wife, which may have cost the state as much as $100,000 in lost wages. Both have resigned and now they have each been charged with one misdemeanor.
It will be interesting to see the evidence because, if it is anything close to what the mainstream media have reported, they got off lightly. Rather than throwing the book at them, it looks like a page has been torn from the book, folded into a paper airplane and gently tossed in their direction.
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My faithful companion and I like to take walks late at night. She has an abiding interest in lagomorphs, who are apt to be out and about at that time, and I like it because it’s cool, quiet and peaceful.
This summer, while she has been searching for rabbits, I have been distracted by lighting bugs. I don’t remember ever seeing so many. Some of the trees along the creek by my house almost look like they have Christmas lights, there are so many flashes going on and off. Maybe it’s the wet weather, or perhaps it’s a case of me being more observant and the trees always light up in the summer, but I don’t think so.
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I’m thinking Gov. Roy Cooper is not very well organized and his desk must look something like mine because it appears it took him over 24 hours to find his veto stamp to veto the North Carolina budget passed by large bipartisan majorities in the state Senate and House. Cooper held a press conference and said he would veto the budget, but then he didn’t. But nobody seemed to know why he was waiting. I think he lost the stamp.
When he finally vetoed the budget on Tuesday, the state Senate overrode the veto later that same day and the state House overrode the veto on Wednesday.
Cooper is, of course, talking about suing the legislature over the state budget. I think Cooper must be setting some kind of record for taking the state legislature to court. It seems to be his solution for everything.
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I finally gave in and read a book on an iPad and now I’ve read about 10. I still prefer books made out of paper, but electronic books are so easy. I go through a lot of books, and instead of having to go buy them, or order online and wait for them to be delivered, I’m just a couple of clicks away from a new book, and so far I’ve been borrowing them from the library, so it’s been free.
I haven’t borrowed a real book from the library in years. If I have to go somewhere to get a book, I’d rather go buy one. But if I can get a book by lying on my couch and clicking a couple of times, I’m all for that.
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I know that people who have fled the colder climes and have recently moved south hate the fact that natives don’t use their turn signals very often, but I don’t think you’ll find drivers who are more polite anywhere.
I was driving to work, coming into the downtown on Smith Street recently and there was a car in the far left lane coming right at all of us who were going the right way on the one-way street. The amazing thing is nobody honked. Everyone shifted over a lane making room for the errant driver and went on their way.
I thought about honking my horn but then thought, what’s the point. He knows he’s going the wrong way. Everyone else knows he’s going the wrong way. So why honk? The poor guy was either terribly confused or has a Jason Bourne obsession, but it looked more like the former rather than the latter.
