POTTSTOWN — This year’s Pottstown GoFourth! Festival Independence Day celebration will have a retro festival vibe with tons of cool and relaxed Grateful Dead/bohemian-inspired merch featuring vintage style graphics with a local twist to show off your Pottstown pride.
The day will begin with the Rotary Club of Pottstown July 4 Parade on High Street from Adams to York streets, beginning at 10 a.m. The parade is sponsored by Creative Health Services Inc. of Pottstown.
Pottstown GoFourth! Street Fest will get underway at 11:15 a.m. and continue until 4 p.m.
Stroll High Street from Penn to York streets to enjoy live music, local restaurant fare and popular food trucks, Pottstown’s brew pubs and beer gardens, artisans and other vendors, nonprofit information exhibits, and tons of children’s activities.
Kids Zone will be focused on the area between Penn and Hanover. Kids Zone activities are free for the kiddos, thanks to Kids Zone sponsors ROG Orthodontics and Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation.
Additional face painters will help to accommodate demand for this very popular attraction. There will be games and entertainment including two magic shows by Happy the Clown, and living history presented by the Shire of Hartshorn-dale, including reenactments, medieval history, dance, costumes, and combat.
Scotty Cavanaugh, an “action-comedy juggler” who performs on a unicycle, returns again this year.
Live musical entertainment, sponsored by Switchpoint Foundation, will be featured at Smith Family Plaza in the 100 Block of High Street. JoAnn Bathurst will open the show with the singing of the National Anthem.
Following are the Jazz/R&B group Anakai Ney and The Grooveyard. Next up, Hector Rosado y Orchestra Hache, returning for their seventh performance at the festival. New to the GoFourth! stage is Middle Class — specializing in modern rock, they won the title of Philadelphia’s 102.9 WMGK House Band, joining an elite family of the area’s top musicians and bands. Down at Memorial Park for the Fireworks Party, the show opens with DJ Q Ball spinning some great tunes for the crowd.
Modern Luxe is back by popular demand and will close out the evening. Live sound is sponsored by and provided by Montgomery County Community College’s Sound Recording and Technology Department.
Festivalgoers can enjoy all the events of the day with a beverage from Sly Fox Beer Garden and food from one of the many food trucks. A number of High Street restaurants also will be open to customers.
The Rotary Duck Race Drawing will take place at 3 p.m. on High Street in the Smith Family Plaza vicinity. This event raises money for vital area nonprofit organizations. The Fireworks Party will kick off at 5 p.m. in Memorial Park, 75 W. King St., featuring food trucks, a Sly Fox Beer Garden, Inflatable “rides” for kids, and musical entertainment.
Grandpop Bubbles will be in the park from 5 p.m. til dusk — a favorite of kids and adults alike, with his giant bubbles to be enjoyed by all.
The pyrotechnics, presented by Sky Shooter Displays and sponsored again this year by Precision Polymer Products Inc., will begin at 9:30 p.m.
Parking will be available at Montgomery County Community College South Hall, courtesy of the college. Parking is also available on the streets where appropriate (please be considerate of our Borough neighbors) and in the Borough of Pottstown lots at South Hanover Street near the train tracks, the lots at High and Evans Street, and the lot on King Street between Hanover and Penn streets. Premium fireworks parking passes will be available, but parking tickets are required; they will go on sale in June at www.pottstowngofourth.com.
The Colebrookdale Railroad Fireworks Express will depart at 7 p.m. from the Boyertown station, arriving in plenty of time for the show. Tickets are available at www.colebrookdalerailroad.com.
Pottstown GoFourth! recognizes these valued top-level sponsors to date:
• Fireworks Sponsor — Precision Polymer Products Inc.
• Entertainment Sponsor — Switchpoint Foundation
• Rotary Club of Pottstown Parade — Creative Health Services Inc.
• Kids Zone Sponsors — Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation and ROG Orthodontics
• Platinum Sponsor — The Hill School Student Philanthropy Council
• Drone Sponsor — Creative Health Services Inc.
• Gold Sponsors – Fox Rothschild, LLP; PECO, Fast Signs of Pottstown
Sponsorships are still available as planners work to meet significant costs. Visit www.pottstowngofourth.com/sponsorships.
Volunteers also are needed. You can sign up at www.pottstowngofourth.com/volunteer.
Pottstown GoFourth! kicks its fundraising into high gear with its annual Basket Raffle fundraiser, to be held on Sunday, June 2 from 1 to 4 p.m. at Iron Gate Biergarten, 230 E. High Street in Pottstown. There will be baskets galore, a 50/50 raffle and branded Festival and Pottstown merchandise for sale to support the Festival.
Donations toward this community event are welcomed and donors will be recognized in the Pottstown Mercury. Please visit www.pottstowngofourth.com or by check made out to Tri-County Community Network (TCN), and send to Pottstown GoFourth!, P.O. Box 1362, Pottstown, PA 19464.
Vendors and nonprofits who would like to set up a stand or table should contact Darlene Bainbridge at PG4Vendors@gmail.com. Vendor registration deadline is June 10, 2024.
Website visitors can purchase Pottstown GoFourth! shirts and other merchandise, see photo albums and find other information about this event.
“Support for Pottstown GoFourth! Festival has been very enthusiastic this year,” said Amy Wolf, co-chair of the event. “The community has embraced this event since our inception in 2017. Pottstown GoFourth! has evolved into a true community builder, not just on the 4th of July but all year long. We help promote pride in Pottstown and want the kids especially to feel that sense of community and camaraderie that is so special in Pottstown.”
Amy Francis, co-chair, reiterated the success of having GoFourth’s daytime festivities downtown, with a continued focus on improving visibility and foot traffic for Pottstown’s ever-expanding small businesses.
“Through events like PG4 Street Fest and our July 4th Fireworks Bash — as well as a host of other community celebrations and live music and entertainment offerings — we’re collectively putting Pottstown on the map as the place to be.” Francis said. “With all of the incredible eateries, breweries and charming shops popping up, our town is truly coming into its own. We hope that you’ll join us on the Fourth of July for a sampling of all of the great things happening in Pottstown and keep coming back all year long to enjoy all that our town has to offer!”
Sponsorship Amounts
• Precision Polymer Products — $15,000.
• Creative Health Services, Inc. — $8,000.
• Switch Point Foundation — $ 7,500
• ROG Orthodontics — $3,000.
• Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation — $3,000.
• The Hill School Student Philanthropy Council — $3,000.
• Fox Rothschild, LLP — $2,500.
• PECO — $2,500.
• Wolf, Baldwin & Associates — $2,200.
• Colebrookedale Railroad — $1,695.
• O’Donnell, Weiss & Mattei, P.C. — $1,500.
• Tompkins Community Bank — $1,500.
• Hobarts Run — $ 1,500.
• Key Bank — $1,500.
• Jay Lanes — $1,000.
• Graham Management LP — $1,000.
• William P. Brogley Law Offices — $1,000.
• Stichter Masonic Lodge #254 — $1,000.
• American Heritage Credit Union — $1,000.
• The Lowa Group, Inc. — $500.
• J&K Foam Fabricating — $500.
• J.P. Mascaro & Sons/Pioneer Crossing Landfill Charitable Contribution Program — $500.
• Renewal By Anderson — $500.
• Passanante’s Home Food Service — $500.
• Victory Bank — $500.
• Mayerson Injury Law — $500.
• Pottstown Ambucs — $400.
• Heritage Coach Company, Inc. — $300.
• Pottstown Area Rapid Transit — $300.
• Vietnam Veterans Chapter 565 — $250.
• PA Industrial Equipment, Inc. — $250.
• Doe Club of the Pottstown Elks #814 — $250.
• Law Offices of David Garner — $250.
• Gehringer Mechanical — $250.
• Thomas L. Zeigler PE, Inc. — $200.
• 1200 High Street LLC — $200.
• Kreibel Security — $100.
• Schumacher & Benner Funeral Home and Crematory — $100.
• Keystone Ambucs — $100.
• Dolan Ray Law, LLC — $100.
• Warker Troutman Funeral Home — $100.
• Professional Pharmacy — $100.
• Weigner Insurance & Financial Services, Inc. — $100.
• Virtual Farm Creative, Inc. — $100.
• RE/Max Achievers – John Ohler & Nicole Roman — $100.
• Yucha Chiropractic — $100.
• Alford Party Rentals — in-kind donation
• Fast Signs of Pottstown — in-kind donation
• Michelle Morgan — $100.
• David and Grace Kraybill — $250.
• Sheri Waldman — $100.
• W. Scott Roberts — $100.
• Doug Slick — $20.
