CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. – All across the country people are decked out in their red, white, and blue to celebrate the nation’s birthday, and right in Christiansburg, hundreds of people showed out for the Fourth of July festival.
Christiansburg kicked off its Independence Day celebration Tuesday morning with live music, vendors, and plenty of kids’ activities.
Christiansburg native Barry Underwood has moved away from Virginia but comes back every July 4 for the festival.
”Drove all the way from Florida to be here today,” Underwood said.
Underwood says events like this show what a close-knit community Christiansburg is.
”Everybody knows everybody, and you go away and come back and it’s like you never left,” he said.
Christiansburg Parks and Recreation Director Brad Epperley says they wanted there to be something for everyone at the festival.
”Whether you want to stop by for lunch, whether you want your children to be able to have somewhere to play, you want to listen to music, or you want to buy arts and crafts, this is the place to be,” Epperley said.
Over thirty craft vendors lined the street.
Atsoon Bishop is the owner of ‘Let’s Aroo,’ and creates products for both dogs and their owners.
She says support from Christiansburg at events like these is what helped her business take off.
“We decided to give it a shot and do a local event, and we sold out on the first day,” Bishop said.
And of course, the festival had plenty of fun things for the young ones too.
Harper and Meyeres, two kiddos attending the festival, said they were ready for the big event - “seeing fireworks!”
Even if you didn’t make it out to the festival, don’t worry. The big fireworks show in Christiansburg will begin around 9:15 p.m. Tuesday.