The annual Crozet Independence Day parade, celebration, and fireworks are Saturday, July 1. We hope for your enthusiastic support of our small-town tradition.
The fun starts with a parade down Crozet Avenue starting at 5 p.m. We’re hoping the parade will be better and bigger than last year! Anyone interested in joining in the parade should go to CrozetFire.org to get the parade unit sign-up form.
We’ll follow the parade to Crozet Park where there will be amusements for the children. Bring a lawn chair or blanket if you want to be comfortable as you enjoy an evening in the park. There will be great music by the local band, Ian Gilliam and the FireKings, as well as traditional Fourth of July fare, including hot dogs, hamburgers, popcorn, and sno cones, along with other favorites, as well as vegetarian and vegan choices. Local beer and cider will be available for you to enjoy as well. The evening culminates at 9:30 p.m. with a stupendous fireworks show. (We have it at 9:30 so it’s late enough to be dark, but not too late for the youngsters to view the show.) Look for updates about the parade and celebration at the Crozet Community Association’s website: CrozetCommunity.org
All of this for an admission of just $5 per person donation (and suggested donation for children 9 and under of $2 for the child amusements) as you enter the festivities (parking is free). There are no pets allowed. We’ll provide designated smoking areas and ask that you smoke only in those areas. If you live nearby Crozet Park, we encourage you to walk. Also, in conjunction with Albemarle County Police Department, we’re planning to make exiting the park much faster than past years!
The celebration is a combined effort by Crozet’s civic organizations who have teamed up to put on the Crozet Independence Day Celebration, a task that in the past fell solely to the Crozet Volunteer Fire Department (CVFD), which for many years sponsored the celebration as a fundraiser. Joining the CVFD in sharing the burden now are the Crozet Community Association, Claudius Crozet Park (which is community-owned and led by volunteers), Crozet Board of Trade, Crozet Lions Club, Crozet Fellowship Church, Crozet Trails Crew, and other local civic groups, churches, and citizen volunteers.
This event involves a lot of donated time from a lot of individuals and groups, but it can’t happen without financial contributions, too. July 1st will be here before you know it. We hope you’ll join us by sending a donation today to help with these expenses. You can donate online at: bit.ly/CIDC-donation.
Or send a check payable to the Crozet Board of Trade and mail it to: Crozet Board of Trade P.O. Box 261, Crozet, VA 22932 and note on the memo line “fireworks donation.” Please give as generously as you can, so that our entire community can enjoy this patriotic tradition. In addition to helping to cover the cost of the fireworks and the event, your donation helps support CVFD and other civic groups in Crozet. In 2021, your generosity helped us donate over $7,000 to local civic groups like the CVFD, WARS, and other civic groups.
You can also donate an hour or two at the event to help make it successful. Go to bit.ly/volunteer-cidc-2023 to volunteer an hour. On behalf of the Crozet Independence Day Celebration (CIDC) planning team, thank you for your support. We look forward to seeing you on July 1.
Tim F. Jost Tolson
Chair, CIDC Planning Team; President, Crozet Community Association
