Pocono News Section

Freedom Fest Preview

Freedom Fest Preview - Thursday, July 3, 2008 at 8:24PM EST

Thursday, Jul 3, 2008 @ 08:24pm EST
East Stroudsburg, Monroe County -

When you plan a party for fifteen thousand people you better pick up a lot of snacks. Donna Snap helps manage the concession stand at Dansbury Park. She and the rest of the staff here are getting ready for Friday's American Freedom Festival. Thursday they unloaded boxes of nachos. And just when they thought they were done, the delivery man dropped off more. Donna doesn't mind the heavy lifting.
Organizers also hope that people bring food here. For the first time ever, the Freedom Festival is hosting a blood drive, a 5K race, dozens of vendors, family rides, fireworks and several local bands. It took organizer Joe Memoli about two months to put it all together. This is the seventh year for the event and Joe says it get bigger every time. So he makes sure everything is set to handle the crowd. This included the porta-potties. Frank Roman and his staff dropped off twenty-one of them Thursday. The preparation for East Stroudsburg's party of the year will stretch into Friday morning.
The Freedom Fest ends with a fireworks display at dusk. They were almost scaled down because they've gotten so expensive. But a local company gave them a good price and Pocono Medical Center paid for them.