Jonesboro, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) – July 4, 2024 – Freedom Fest blasts off tonight at Southside Softball Complex!
Gates open at 7pm, the show starts at 9:30pm.
Admission is free. Both entrances to Southside will be open, as well as the Miracle League parking lot.
Fireworks will be synchronized with music broadcast on the six radio stations of the Jonesboro Radio Group: 104.9 The Fox, 100.5 The Eagle, Mix 106.3, Hot 107.5, 98.5 The Outlaw, and EZ 92.7.
The Miracle League Playground restrooms will be open, and the playground will be open for play. Portable toilets will be placed throughout the Southside complex, with a handicapped accessible toilet available at Miracle League.
Several food trucks will be scattered around the complex for a yummy treat while waiting for the show to start.
Finally, personal fireworks are not allowed on property. JPD officers will be patrolling the area to enforce this ban.
After the show, officers will assist in getting all vehicles out of the park safely and quickly. Please be patient!
The Freedom Fest event originated as an event billed as July Jam in Paragould back in 1986. Trey Stafford, then a partner in the operation of KDXY-FM in Paragould, had dreamed of sponsoring his own fireworks display since he was a little boy. “My Mom and Dad took my sister and me to Memphis every year for the Cotton Carnival,” Stafford said. “We would sit on the riverbank above Riverside Drive and watch the Cotton Carnival shoot fireworks off a barge on the river. In 1986, Paragould didn’t have a July 4 fireworks display, so I started one.”
July Jam moved to Jonesboro’s District Fairgrounds on Stadium Blvd in 2000 where it was renamed Freedom Fest. The show continued to be displayed there until the fairgrounds moved in 2012. That’s when Freedom Fest was moved to its new home at the Southside Softball Complex.
“We couldn’t have this large of an event without the incredible financial support we receive from our partners,” Stafford said expressing thanks to All Clean Restoration, Arvest Bank, Barton’s, Central Chevrolet, Right Fiber by Ritter Communications and Tommy’s Car Wash. “KAIT has been a partner with us on Freedom Fest since 2005,” Stafford, currently President/General Manager of the Jonesboro Radio Group said. “We appreciate the way Hatton Weeks and his team at K8 help us promote this great event.”
“We have had a great partnership with the City of Jonesboro, Jonesboro Parks and Recreation, Jonesboro Police and others throughout the 12 years we have had shows here at Southside,” Stafford said. “Steve Clifton and his crew at Southside are super to work with.”
