Enfield Town Celebration

The Enfield 4th of July Town Celebration is  celebrating 40 years. We spoke with Izzy Post Ruhland, Marketing Director and Committee Member about what is taking place to commemorate the event.  

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning. Thank you for listening to Community Access. My
guest this morning is Isy post Rulin. She is marketing
director and committee member for the Enfield Fourth of July
Town Celebration.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Good morning, Good morning, Thanks for having me so tell me.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
When is this town celebration taking place?

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Yes, this is our fortieth Enfield Fourth of July Town Celebration.
It's happening this year on July eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth.
We always have it the weekend after the fourth of
July because we want folks to go out and enjoy
the holiday with their family and then come on back
and continue the celebrations with us.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
And where's it taking place?

Speaker 2 (00:36):
We are having this It is at the Enfield Town Green.
It's a the addresses eight twenty Enfield Street, and we
have parking going on at the Enfield Town Mall with
a free shuttle bus for folks to attend, so you
can park at the Enfield Square Mall and then take
the bus down and come join us at the Enfield
Town Green.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
That's fantastic that there's a shuttle bus forty years congratulations
what started it all? How did it all begin?

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Oh? Well, thank you so much. We were so excited
to be celebrating your number forty. We started back in
the early eighties. It was a picnic with five different families.
It was located at Brainerd Park and Enfield and that
five family picnic on the Fourth of July just grew
and grew and grew until nineteen eighty three when it
moved to the Enfield Town Green and that's when a

(01:21):
formal committee was officially established the fourth of July Town
Celebration and we've been going on ever since. We took
a couple of years off because of the COVID pandemic,
so this is Celebration number forty, but we've been around
a couple extra years. Very special in my family specifically,
my grandfather was involved with that first committee over forty
years ago, and I'm the third generation in my family

(01:42):
to help put on this event and we're just we're
super excited to hit number forty and be a part
of it.

Speaker 1 (01:46):
Wow, I love your local connection. That's amazing.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
Yeah, it's super great. I mean we're so excited. The
event's free of charge. We have three full days with
so much to do. You name it, we've got it.
If you have any interests for yourself, here at your spouse,
your partner, or your children. There's just so much to
do here and celebrate, and again everything is free of charge.
Admission is free, activities are free. That's the whole point
of the celebration is. We never want to turn a

(02:10):
person or a family away because of their inability to pay,
so that the children will always be able to take
place in activities, get their face painted, do a bounce house,
attend a concerts, to the fireworks. Again, everything is free
of charge. Just come on down to the green, bring
a chair, bring a blanket, and enjoy some time with
your family.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
So on Friday July eleventh it's at five pm. Saturday
July twelfth that's at nine am, and Sunday July thirteenth
it's at ten am. But it's weather permitting, so we
are rain or shine.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
All events are weather permitting or so we work closely
with the local police department. If there are warnings in
place and we do have to clear the green, we will,
But again all events are weather permitting. If there's rain,
we have a rain plan for our concerts and things
of that nature. We partner with so many different external
vendors that we go based on what they're saying, but
the event as a whole will be rain or shine.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
Go to Enfield Celebration dot org if you'd like to
learn more information. You mentioned some of the things going on,
and I know we would be here all day long
talking about all three days and what's happening, but maybe
mention some other highlights.

Speaker 2 (03:12):
Absolutely, so, we have so many different things, you know.
The main feature focuses the music on our USA Wasting
recycling stage. Friday's headliner is high Noon, Saturday's headliners draw
the line, and then Sunday's headliner is a Savage Brothers band.
But we have music going all day. We have children's
activities with bounce houses and face painting and demonstration. Last

(03:33):
year we had a fire Breather that's happening on Friday
and Saturday. Our team zone goes into the evenings. We
have a road race, a parade on Saturday. We've got
our fireworks spectacular honoring Frank and Carol Dodd on Sunday,
a car show, taste of Endfield beer, garden, craft fair,
community demonstrations again, you name it, we've got it. It's

(03:55):
three packed, full days of so many different things for
all interests. We really enjoy seeing so many smiling faces
come down every year.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
It sounds so amazing. I am not going to miss this.
Tell me, do you need donations or sponsors or volunteers
or anything like that.

Speaker 2 (04:13):
Absolutely. We are a nonprofit organization comprised of twenty six
volunteer directors, so myself and twenty five other individuals. We
begin planning this in January, and we are totally funded
by sponsorships and in kind donations. Our title sponsors are
the Town of Endfield, you guys here at iHeartRadio, bud Light, HDI,
USA Waste and Recycling, and Channel three, and we're so

(04:34):
thankful for them. But there are hundreds of sponsors who
help fund this event, and sponsorships start as low as
three hundred and fifty dollars, So you can always go
to our website Endfield Celebration dot org to find out
if you want a sponsor and the benefits that come
with that. And then again, we're volunteer based. To us
twenty six directors, we start planning in January, but the
entire event is staffed by over three hundred volunteers. You

(04:56):
can do a two hour shift or you can do
the twenty four hour shift with the rest of us
if you want to as well, and again, you can
also head to our website to find out information on
how to volunteer. We welcome everybody of all ages. We
do have some opportunities for young folks to volunteer if
you want to get out with your family or your colleagues.
We welcome everybody, and we start setting up on Wednesday

(05:16):
and we break down on Monday, so we have anything
for five days. So we want to thank our title sponsors,
you guys at iHeartRadio, Town of Endfields, Channel three, bud
Light USA Waste and Recycling. You can head to our
website Endfield Celebration dot org. We are Enfield FOJTC on
Instagram and then Enfield Fourth of July Town Celebration on Facebook.

(05:37):
All of our information is there. We'll be giving live
updates throughout the weekend as well as posting all the schedule.
And we're really excited to be here for your forty
It's been a long time. We're very thankful to come
back year after year put on this event for over
sixty thousand people, number one fireworks in the state of Connecticut,
so we just hope more folks come and enjoy what
we've been working for all year.

Speaker 1 (05:56):
Absolutely, and they will. I'm speaking with Izzy post roulelan
marketing director and committee member for the Enfield Fourth of
July Town Celebration. It's their fortieth year. Thank you so
much for being here today and for serving the community.

Speaker 2 (06:10):
Thanks so much for having us