The Fourth of July was anything but a day off for some people at Washington’s waterfront Monday.
Some were there because they were organizers of the celebration. Vendors were there to make money buy selling food and beverages to those who spent part of their day off from work to celebrate Independence Day on the waterfront. Others were there because they were performing public-safety duties.
The Washington Harbor District Alliance, Lee Chevrolet-Buick and the City of Washington were the major organizers of the event, with several other sponsors making the celebration possible. Before noon, the East Carolina Cornhole League was setting up an area for a cornhole tournament.
Late last week, workers were working feverishly to have the new performance stage at Festival Park ready for use on the Fourth of July.
Concessionaire Curtis Ormond Sr. was mixing business with pleasure Monday. He was selling festival fare, mainly lemonade and snow cones in midafternoon.
“This is something we did last year,” Ormond said moments after serving lemonade to a cornhole-tournament observer. “The fireworks is always a spectacular thing for us. Washington really puts on the dog for us. We did it last year. We had a blast down here. I hope it’s going to be that good again this year.”
A few yards away, Lindsey Cahoon was selling homemade ice cream — vanilla, chocolate, strawberry and banana flavors.
“They’re all good. You can’t beat it,” he said.
Cahoon was helping out Ted and Brenda Davis, who own the ice-cream concession. Their ice-cream churn is powered by a one-piston engine that makes a “pop … pop … pop” sound familiar to anyone who’s been to a Summer Festival in Washington.
“I’m just giving him a hand,” said Cahoon as he iced down the churn. “This hit-and-miss ice-cream machine makes some good homemade ice cream.”
Asked why he was working on a holiday, Cahoon said, “I’m just helping them out. They needed a little help. … I help them out here and there.”