Charles Warner|Daily Times Foster Park Lake will be lit up Tuesday night by the fireworks display that will be the main feature of the "Light Up The Lake 2012" Fourth of July celebration.

slideshow

The Union County Recreation Department and the Union County Chamber of Commerce are teaming up together to ‘light up’ Foster Park Lake for families and the Fourth of July Tuesday evening.

Recreation Department Program Director Jessica Gallman said Friday that the recreation department and the chamber are organizing the annual Fourth of July event at Foster Park Lake which this year is being called “Light Up The Lake 2012.” In previous years, the event was called the Fourth of July Beach Blast, but Gallman said the decision was made to change the name and with it the focus of the evening’s activities.

“It really wasn’t a beach blast, we didn’t have a beach band,” Gallman said. “We changed the name because we wanted put the focus more on the family and the Fourth of July.”

As part of that emphasis on family, Gallman said there will be more attractions for children.

“We’ll have kids games including a hula hoop toss and a bucket toss,” Gallman said. “We’re going to have corn hole games and adults an invited to play, too. We’re also going to have face painting for the children. We’ll also have giveaways.”

As they have for years, Gallman said families will be allowed to bring picnic baskets to the park and spend time together beginning at 6:30 p.m. when the evening gets underway. She said there will also be vendors at the park as at the previous Fourth of July events.

While there won’t be a beach band, Gallman said there will be music, courtesy of the group “Haze.”

The lake, however, will not be lighted up until after dark when, at 9:15 p.m., there will be a fireworks display by Mike Sumner and East Coast Pyrotechnics. The fireworks display will last from 45 minutes to an hour.

Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Torance Inman said the change of name and focus is designed to emphasize the original intent of the event.

“The goal is to celebrate our independence and it is traditionally done so in a festive manner, highlighted, of course, by fireworks,” Inman said. “It is more of a celebration of our independence rather than a beach blast.”

For more information, contact Jessica Gallman at the Union County Recreation Department at 429-1670.