From barbecue to soda rockets, fireworks to firefighter drills, locals celebrate Fourth

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By Kevin Hardy July 5, 2012 3 min read

Kate Frere, 1, celebrates the Fourth with her mother, Rose Frere Wednesday at the Creative Discovery Museum. The two are here from Baltimore, Md., visiting grandparents.

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Ecumenical Service

Josh Kellam, right, anoints the Rev. John Antony of St. Joseph Catholic Church, from left, the Rev. John Atchison of St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Church and the Rev. John Slavin of St. Gabriel’s Anglican Church with incense during an ecumenical prayer service at St. Gabriel’s in Springdale on Feb. 5.

The Rev. John Slavin, rector of St. Gabriel’s Anglican Church in Springdale, offers a prayer at the start of a Feb. 5 ecumenical prayer service as incense hangs in the air. The Have a Heart for Haiti fundraiser brought leaders of the Anglican Church, the Roman Catholic Church and the Antiochian Orthodox Church in Springdale together for the first time in Arkansas.

The Rev. John Antony, from left, of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Fayetteville, the Rev. John Slavin of St. Gabriel’s Anglican Church in Springdale and the Rev. John Atchison of St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Church in Springdale gather at the altar for the start of an ecumenical prayer service on Feb. 5. The special service at St. Gabriel’s offered prayers for the people of Haiti and collected donations for relief efforts.

The Rev. John Atchison of St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Church in Springdale reads the Scripture as Josh Kellam assists.

The spectacle was less of a boom and more of a fizzle, whoosh and splash.

Children pulled triggers, dropping rolls of Mentos into 2-liter Diet Cokes and sending the fizzy liquid rocketing nearly two stories into the air.

Dubbed a “21-geyser salute,” the exploding soda was one of several events hosted by the Creative Discovery Museum to celebrate Independence Day.

In the museum’s atrium, a man dressed as Uncle Sam read a portion of the Declaration of Independence before leading kids in a miniature parade. Jayne Griffin, director of education, provided a quick lesson in history and patriotism. She told about the men who signed the document 236 years ago and those who have continued to fight for freedom.

“We needed people to help us maintain that freedom. We needed people to help protect that freedom,” she said.