Written by Tanya Terry, with photos provided by FIM
This July 4 marks America’s 250 anniversary of signing the Declaration of Independence.
Simultaneously, The FIM Holiday Celebration and 11th Annual Flint Water Fest will take place from 5 – 10:30 p.m. on July 4 in downtown Flint. The event is free and open to the public.
Amanda Sauvie, manager of community programs for the Flint Institute of Music, recently discussed the local, upcoming 4th of July celebration with the Courier. The event combines the Flint Water Festival, which was started by Kay Smith in 2016 in response to the Flint water Crisis, with holiday festivities. Now in its 11th year, the festival has expanded from raising awareness about water access to providing comprehensive family activities and fun experiences for children.
The celebration features free activities including a rock wall, pickleball courts, water slides, splash park activities, yard games like cornhole and a midway carnival with rides and food vendors.
“Currently we are right in this moment because of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence,” stated Sauvie. “We have so many activities and events happening around that throughout the nation and in Genesee County. I’m so very excited to be a part of that. We have really, really pulled out all the stops for this 4th of July being that it is the 250th. It’s just an important, significant day in our nation.”
Sauve noted that initially Smith was especially focused on children having access to healthy water.
“It’s expanded because that inspired her to also consider all of the different things that all children should have access to as part of a healthy childhood,” Sauvie said. “So, she started the Flint Water festival to raise awareness, but it’s expanded to become just an opportunity to give kids, all kids, an experience, a fun experience, something to enjoy, something to look forward to…It’s something that has sort of expanded in meaning to not just about water and issues surrounding water, but also just fun, good health, you know, getting outdoors and enjoying a healthy childhood.”
Entertainment includes a Beyonce tribute band as the evening finale, followed by fireworks.
A special highlight is an original fanfare commissioned by Jonathan Bailey Holland, a Flint native and alumni of the Flint School of Performing Arts. It will be performed by musicians from the Flint Symphony Orchestra and Flint Youth Symphony Orchestra, along with Jeunes Symphonique de Limonest, a visiting orchestra from Limonest, France.
This performance was made possible through a $25,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Additionally, Genesee County created a summer-long program featuring a passport book with stamps that can be collected at various America’s 250th events throughout the county running through September 30. Participants can exchange completed passbooks for a commemorative coin.
The Twinkle Fest America 250 initiative sought 250 original renditions of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” up until July 1 through videos of people singing, playing instruments or dancing. FIM Holiday Celebration and 11th Annual Flint Water Fest attendees will be able to see some of the submissions.
“It’s almost like being in like a theme park for an afternoon because you’ve got this great stage, you’ve got all of these activities and all this laughter,” said Sauvie. “You’ve got the carnival happening in the background. It’s a lot of fun. I really encourage folks to come out. Of course, at the end of the night, there’s the incredible fireworks display. This is something that is part of Genesee County and it’s part of what we do. The Genesee County Arts Education and Cultural Enrichment millage supports these kind of events and allows us to bring them for free to the community. So, we hope that not just folks from Flint, but from all over Genesee County come to see this show and enjoy this event.”
