By Beth Hyatt
The Greenville Advocate

The Greenville Area Chamber of Commerce and the City of Greenville will be hosting the Celebrate America 2015 on Friday.

The event will take place at the Greenville High School’s Tiger Stadium at 7 p.m. It will encompass a multitude of activities such as an Air Jumpz water slide, a food truck, free watermelon and bottled water, entertainment provided by the Kyle & Dave Morning Show and the grand finale fireworks show provided by Pyrotecnico.

The event is free of charge and everyone is invited to attend. The only charges for the event come from the water slide and the “Good To Go” food truck; all proceeds from the food truck go to benefit the Butler County Humane Society. The water slide will cost only $3; this fee will give children the opportunity to play as long as they want, as many times as they want for one low fee.

The Kyle & Dave Morning Show segment will begin at 7 p.m. and will have continued coverage throughout the event. This radio segment features Kyle Haynes and David Norrell and can be found on the station 94.3. Door prizes will also be offered by Hayens and Norrell in order to get the crowd more involved with the festivities.

The fireworks show will start at 9 p.m. following a ceremonial presentation of the colors. At this time, military personnel will be recognized for their service.

“We want to just take a few minutes to think about why we’re really there and honor our heritage. We want to take a few minutes to realize what all this means to us,” said Francine Wasden, executive director of the Greenville Chamber of Commerce.

During the festivities, stores such as Walgreens, Johnson Furniture and Walmart will participate by offering items to the guests. Walgreens will be giving away Frisbees, Walmart will provide free watermelon and free bottled water and Johnson Furniture will be handing out flags that guests can keep as mementos.

Tera Simmons will be performing the National Anthem at the start of the event. Chamber Pages and Camellia Girls will be working at the event handing out balloons and greeting guests as they enter the stadium.

This is Wasden’s ninth year participating in the event and each year it continues to grow thanks to many different sponsors including Country Place Senior Living, Hwashin America Corporation and Hysco America Corporation.

“This is one of our favorite events. We could not do this without these sponsors. They help us be able to fund the music, the fireworks and all that it takes,” said Wasden. “It’s going to be a fun night for everybody. We’re going to have plenty of room, so bring your lawn chairs, bring a blanket, bring the kids, neighbors and tell everybody else about it.”