RALEIGH — Pack a picnic lunch, don’t forget your lawn chairs and blankets, and come out to enjoy the July 4th holiday at the State Capitol’s annual celebration of America’s independence. This fun-filled, patriotic family event has become a downtown Raleigh tradition. The Saturday festivities are free and open to the public.
From 11 a.m.-3 p.m., musical performances, historical and military displays, a craft demonstration and several hands-on and play activities for children will be going on at the Capitol. Visitors will be able to listen to music inside the Capitol and outside on the square from groups such as the St. Mark’s Jazz Band, The Huckleberry Brothers and the Raleigh Concert Band. Families may also depart from Capitol Square on a narrated trolley ride throughout the historic downtown, featuring Raleigh landmarks.
Period-costumed re-enactors will evoke American military might from the Revolutionary period to the Vietnam era. Once again, the Capitol will sponsor the popular “Old Fashioned 4th” historical demonstration area where visitors can discover how Americans celebrated Independence Day in days gone by. Here folks will have a chance to try their hand at quill pen writing, sack races and much more.
At 11:45 a.m., those who fell in the Vietnam War and all remaining POW/MIA military personnel will be honored and remembered in a brief memorial service held at the N.C. Vietnam Memorial on the Capitol lawn. At noon, the annual “Salute to Independence” will begin at the 1840 State Capitol’s east front with a reading of Thomas Jefferson’s most noble achievement, “The Declaration of Independence.”
This moving presentation will be followed by a solemn placement of floral tributes to mark the 1775-1781 War for Independence and the successive wars that have helped preserve America’s freedoms and spread democracy and freedom globally. Concerts will follow the noontime ceremonies.
Food vendors, including Cooper’s BBQ and Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream, will be located on the Capitol grounds.
The N.C. Museum of History gift shop will be open from 9 a.m.- 4 p.m., and its restrooms will be available to all attendees throughout the Capitol’s July 4th celebration.
A National Historic Landmark, the N.C. State Capitol is one of the finest and best-preserved examples of the Greek Revival style of architecture in the United States. It features a domed rotunda and state senate and house chambers, meticulously restored to their 1840 appearance. Until 1888 its granite walls housed all of state government, and the Legislature met here until 1961. Today the governor and her staff still occupy offices in the Capitol.
The State Capitol’s mission is to preserve and interpret the architecture, history and functions of the 1840 Capitol building and Union Square, where it is located. In downtown Raleigh, the State Capitol is bounded by Edenton, Salisbury, Morgan and Wilmington streets. Free parking is available in state lots near the Capitol.
For more information on the State Capitol call (919) 733-4994 or go to http://www.nchistoricsites.org/capitol.
Administered by the Division of State Historic Sites, the State Capitol is part of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, the state agency dedicated to the promotion and protection of North Carolina’s arts, history and culture. Join the Cultural Resources 2009 theme observance of “Treasure N.C. Culture.” For more information, visit www.ncculture.com.