You won’t have to travel out of town this year to experience the excitement of a &uot;glorious fourth.&uot;

A hometown celebration of all things red, white and blue comes to the Camellia City next Saturday night, July 2, with the arrival of

&uot;Celebrate America 2005.&uot;

The star-spangled event, sponsored by the Greenville Area Chamber of Commerce (GACOC), is slated to kick off at 6:30 p.m., in the upper parking lot of Greenville High School’s Tiger Stadium.

Last year’s inaugural event turned out to be a big success, and organizers are hoping for more of the same.

&uot;We are changing things a little bit this year. In case of rain, we don’t want to do any damage to the football field, so all the games and activities will be held in the upper parking lot,&uot; explained Carol Lee, director of the GACOC.

The Kandu Band will provide live music for the festive evening, and concessions will be available.

&uot;We have a lot of fun contests for the kids planned, including a hula hoop contest,&uot; Lee said.

Carnival games, a moonwalk and other activities will be part of the evening, along with the return of the highly popular dunking booth from last year’s event.

&uot;We are hoping to have plenty of people for the dunking booth that folks are really going to want to see get wet. [GHS principal] Kathy Murphy was a big hit last year,&uot; Lee said.

The grand finale, the giant fireworks extravaganza, is scheduled for 9 p.m.

Attendees are encouraged to bring their lawn chairs so they can sit a spell, and enjoy watching all the colorful events and contests of the evening.

&uot;Folks are also welcome to go in and sit on the stadium bleachers to eat, listen to the music, or to watch the fireworks. We are simply asking people to stay off the field,&uot; Lee said.

A number of local businesses have joined with the GACOC to bring the early Independence Day celebration to the Camellia City, including Wal-Mart, Alabama Power, The Greenville Advocate, CenturyTel and more than two dozen other sponsors.

&uot;We are looking forward to another fun and festive hometown patriotic event, and we hope everyone will come out and join us next weekend,&uot; said Lee.

For more information about Celebrate America 2005, contact the GACOC at 382-3251.