Riverfest returns to Milton
After a year off, Riverfest will be in full swing on July 4th at Riverfront Park in downtown Milton.
“We have been looking forward to this for two years,” said Donna Tucker, CEO of the Santa Rosa County Chamber of Commerce. “It’s never fun having to cancel a party, but we’re ready to celebrate now!”
Riverfest has the events and things festival goers love the most: an all-day celebration of our independence with fun activities, food, and crafts.
A classic car show as well as a bicycle and trike show will take place in Elmira-Strasse from 9 a.m. The children’s activity area, known as Treasure Island, with bouncy castles and water slides is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Food trucks and artisans will be on site at full speed all day. At 6.30 p.m. there will be a veterans salute in Veteran’s Memorial Park and then of course the fireworks at dusk.
“The Chamber’s role at Riverfest is to attract sponsors, volunteers, activities and to coordinate the timing of all events,” said Tucker. “The City of Milton has all of the logistics, such as road closures, dumpsters, police and fire service support, etc. It would be impossible to have an event of this size without the collaboration between the two and the Milton City staff are amazing to work with . “
Tucker added that “the Chamber is grateful to Santa Rosa Medical Center and Sandy and Bubba’s Chevrolet for sponsoring this year’s Riverfest and the City of Milton and McKenzie Motors for sponsoring the fireworks.”
No Milton Riverfest would be complete without one of the featured events, the Great Milltown Duck Race, hosted by the Blackwater Pyrates.
BWP Captain Larry McKee, aka Lucky, said, “The Pyrates are really excited to celebrate (July 4th) with the community after they went missing last year.”
Captain Lucky’s wife Vickie, aka SasSea, served the Pyrates as the organization’s “duck diva” this year.
“We couldn’t do the race last year, but we have doubled our efforts this year,” said SasSea. “We have had an extraordinary surge of support from the business community this year and the Pyrates are grateful to everyone who has supported us.”
Pyrates and local companies have been “adopting” ducks since February in preparation for this moment.
“Our efforts have been very successful this year,” said SasSea, “so we will only have 320 games of chance to play before the race.”
At 5 p.m. the city loads a dumpster with 5,000 racing ducks into the river, and the ducks race downriver on a noodle barricade racetrack to the finish line, where a duck swimmer takes the first three ducks by shooting.
“We ask everyone who visits the festival by boat to keep the area between the two bridges clear between 4:30 and 6:00 am to ensure the safety of the Pyrates who will be running the race,” said SasSea.
BWP’s title sponsor for this year’s Great Milltown Duck Race is McKenzie Motors, Bruce Baker Remax Realty and Sonny’s BBQ provide the Admiralty sponsorship.