The White Hall Lions Club has scheduled their Fourth of July celebration for October barring any further uptick in COVID-19 cases.
Lions Club President Danny Powell says that the club is going to hold the traditional parade, carnival, bingo, and fireworks on the weekend of October 9th through the 10th: “Starting that Friday night, we’re going to have live music at Lions Park. We hope to have a carnival there, and probably playing bingo. Saturday morning at 10 o’clock we will have our annual parade, which similar to the 4th of July parade, the theme is going to be Charlie Brown’s Great Pumpkin. After the parade, we will go back down to Lions Park where we will have bingo, food, music, and the carnival. Accompanying that, the White Hall Police Department will host their annual Fall Festival from 1-4PM. There will be a bunch of free activities for kids and games. Then, at dark, we will have a fireworks display.”
Those wishing to participate in the parade on Saturday morning are asked to line up at North Greene High School between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. There is a $5 registration fee for each entry, and there will be someone at the high school to register the cars. Powell says that extra social distancing precautions as well as extra hand sanitizing stations and hand-washing stations will be set up all around Lions Park to help keep people safe. Powell says that the Lions will also be wearing extra PPE in the preparation of food during the event.
Powell says the whole event is the Lions Club way to raise funds to keep the celebration going and to maintain Lions Park on the southwest side of White Hall: “I’m just hoping that the number of COVID cases decreases as we continue on here. If the numbers continue to increase or continue to stay steadily high in the North Greene area, we will probably have to cancel the celebration. I would hate to have to do that because financially, the Lions have a substantial amount of money that it takes to operate our club each year as far as maintaining the White Hall Lions Park with insurance, maintenance, and upkeep. We really need the community’s support financially in order to maintain as a club. That’s why we are trying to have [the celebration]. That’s why we’re trying not to cancel it 100% because we really need the funds and finances to keep our club going.”
Powell says it averages between $8,500 to $10,000 a year for maintenance and insurance to keep Lions Park in operation in White Hall. Powell says the celebration each year allows the Lions to continue their mission to give back to the community as well as maintaining the 80+ year tradition of the parade and celebration. Powell says the Lions are going to continue to monitor the local COVID-19 situation and hope that everything can still go as planned the second weekend in October.
The White Hall Lions Club has been in operation since 1939.