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Monday evening saw over 11,000 people make their way to Frazier McEwen Park and Grider Stadium, as well as lining up both Jackson Street and Wilson Avenue, to enjoy live music, concessions and one of the largest fireworks shows in the area during the 2023 Tullahoma Independence Day Regional Celebration.

With the gates opening at 3 p.m., the city saw a large gathering of visitors to celebrate Independence Day with food trucks, games, inflatable water slides, 18 vendors and music performances from two bands loved by locals: Vinyl Radio and Sixwire. Vinyl Radio, a 1970s and ‘80s music cover band, took the stage at Grider Stadium at 5 p.m. and performed classic rock and roll tunes. Sixwire, a county music band from Nashville who serves as the house band for the Nashville Predators, took to the stage at 7 p.m. and performed until about 9:15 p.m. for a brief pause for the fireworks show before continuing to perform until the end of the evening.

Before the fireworks show, Parks and Rec Deputy Director Lyle Russell welcomed Tullahoma High School Marine Corp. JROTC Color Guard, alongside members of the Tullahoma High School marching band, to present the colors, and Andy Childs of Sixwire led the crowd with a rendition of the national anthem. Russell then recited the brief history of Independence Day before Tullahoma Mayor Ray Knowis gave the countdown for the fireworks[KB1] .

“Get ready to enjoy one the largest, most spectacular fireworks display in Middle Tennessee,” Knowis said before leading the countdown.

Fireworks were be provided by Pyro Shows, a national pyrotechnics company based out in LaFollette that has presented shows around the world, including in Nashville, the Washington Mall and New York City. The company has put on around 1,000 pyro shows each year with 400 of those shows falling on the weeks before, during and after July 4.

Tullahoma Parks and Rec officials said in a statement thanking everyone who came to the annual event.

“We are so grateful for everyone who came out and made our 2023 Regional Independence Day Celebration a grand success,” officials said. “We already have big plans for next year to continue to make this event the premier 4th of July event in southern Middle Tennessee. Thank you all, and we’ll see you next year!”

Photos courtesy of Duane Sherrill and Kyle Murphy.