Discovery Park of America to incorporate the Let Freedom Ring national celebration into Independence Day activities on Thursday, July 4, 2024
Discovery Park of America is hosting its annual Independence Day celebration on Thursday, July 4, 2024. As part of the activities for the day, the museum and heritage park will be participating in the national Let Freedom Ring® Celebration. In accordance with U.S. Congressional Resolution Number 25, passed in 1963, bells across the country are rung 13 times at exactly 2 p.m. on July 4 each year, in honor of the thirteen original states.
“While others around the country will be ringing bells of all types, we’re one of the few participants in the nation who ring a replica of the actual Liberty Bell,” said Jennifer Wildes, Discovery Park’s senior director of collections and exhibits. “Our reproduction was cast by Bellfoundry Petit & Fritsen of the Netherlands and took over a year to cast.”
Guests to Discovery Park that day will have the opportunity to step back in time and explore our nation’s rich heritage and fight for independence. Special activities include living historians, craftspeople and interactive patriotic experiences of all kinds.
Historical interpreter Jeff Talley will be at Freedom Square showing how printing and typesetting evolved through the 17th and 18th centuries and how that impacted the spread of information.
A group of Revolutionary War reenactors, J.C. Stahlman’s The Living Historians, will be camped out on the grounds interacting with guests and demonstrating the daily lives of soldiers from the 18th century. Guests will witness authentic drills, cooking over open fires and musket demonstrations as they hear stories of bravery and endurance from the Revolutionary War.
The Tennessee River Artist Blacksmith Association will be set up in the blacksmith’s forge at the heritage park’s turn-of-the-twentieth-century town reproduction, Mill Ridge.
There will also be demonstrations of traditional skills and crafts including candle and soap making, spinning and weaving and presentations on natural medical practices of the era.
“We’re especially looking forward to welcoming guests to Discovery Park for Independence Day this year. In addition to all the great patriotic experiences, it will be a great opportunity to see “Sean Kenney’s Nature Connects® Made with LEGO® Bricks,” said Wildes. “One of my favorites among the series of sculptures built with more than 250,000 LEGO bricks — and in keeping with the day’s theme — is an American eagle that took 184 hours to build and is made of more than 42,198 LEGO bricks.”
Most family-friendly activities will take place throughout the day, but there will also be an interactive program in front of Discovery Park’s Liberty Hall from 1:15 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. It will include a patriotic sing-along, a reading of the Declaration of Independence, the Let Freedom Ring® ringing of Discovery Park’s Liberty Bell reproduction and a reenactment of the Boston Tea Party.
All activities are free with park admission. All active-duty military personnel, veterans and their immediate family members present with them at the time of ticket purchase at the Discovery Park ticket counter will receive free admission on Thursday, July 4, 2024.
For more information, visit discoveryparkofamerica.com/
