By Ken Gaidziunas

Staff Writer

Hundreds of local and area residents braved the threat of rain and numerous puddles to celebrate the Fourth if July in downtown Van Alstyne on Saturday.

The annual event was hosted by the Van Alstyne Chamber of Commerce, Keep Van Alstyne Beautiful, the City of Van Alstyne, the Van Alstyne Fire Department and Women's Auxiliary and downtown businesses and churches.

"This was a real team effort," said chamber President Brenda McDonald. "Considering the weather, we really had a good turnout."

"It was great," added chamber Vice President Kim DeMasters.

The day started with an early morning breakfast hosted by the Friends of the Library in the Community Center that stretched into mid-morning as hungry visitors fortified themselves for the day, or at least until the next meal, obviously remembering mother's admonition to "eat a good breakfast."

"We were swamped. The place was packed," said one of the cooks.

The Independence Day celebration officially began at 9 a.m. at the Grayson County building with a flag-raising ceremony by members of American Legion James Adams Post 376. Following "America the Beautiful" sung by Karise Heise, the flag was raised.

Van Alstyne Mayor Ruth Ann Collins welcomed the crowd, which lined Main Street, and the ceremony ended with Heise singing the national anthem.

The kids' patriotic bike parade, featuring young riders with elaborately decorated bikes and trikes, pedaled off at 10 a.m. from the county building.

Mick Bullard took first place for the best decorated bike in the young group, followed by Luke Bullard in second place. Third place went to Preston Blankenship and fourth place to Alex McAffee.

In the older group, Charlotte Thomas won first place, Colin Thomas took second place, Makenna Bancer won third place and Callie Blankenship took fourth place.

The antique and classic car show, hosted by the Friends of the Library, primarily featured meticulously restored cars from the '50s, an era of excess chrome, tail fins and tri-colored bodies. A stately Rolls Royce stood out from the crowd.

Downtown streets were full of people, businesses were open with sidewalk sales and area restaurants were ready for hungry visitors. A number of vendors and various organizations had booths throughout downtown. The farmers market at Dorothy Fielder Park was doing a brisk business in fresh vegetables and other goodies.

The Senior Center was packed with folks listening to music. Due to the iffy weather, the center was the only location where bands could set up.

The afternoon activities wound down by 2 p.m. At dusk there was a steady flow of people heading over to the Grayson County College South Campus parking lot for the annual fireworks show.

"We had good attendance for the fireworks," DeMasters said. "As soon as the fireworks started, the rain stopped and everyone enjoyed the cool breeze."

The organizers of the day's festivities would like to thank area residents for coming out and especially all the volunteers who worked hard to make sure that everyone had a good time.