Editorial

Freedom Festival offers best example of true patriotism

Monday, July 1, 2019

Congratulations to organizers at McCook Christian Church, dozens of volunteers and sponsors who helped kick off the Fourth of July holiday with the Southwest Nebraska Freedom Festival.

The church block was packed with kids enjoying inflatables and the petting zoo, with older kids and young adults braving the bungee drop and bungee trampolines.

There was plenty of free water and shelter from the hot sun, and the food trucks provided tasty festival meals and treats, and it was great to see fireworks return to the fairgrounds later.

It’s easy to lose sight of the true reason for the Fourth of July holiday, but the Freedom Festival helped bring it back into focus by concentrating on those who provide the safe environment that makes such celebrations possible.

Those who “serve and protect” remained on duty, even at an event in their honor, many of them only a block away from their home base at the McCook Safety Center, or the Nebraska State Patrol office.

Still, we hope the festival reinforced the message for which it was designed, that the public truly appreciates those who dedicate their lives in the service of others.

Most of us will have a happy and safe Fourth of July holiday, but a few will probably experience a need for a paramedic, police officer, firefighter or other first responder. In either case, we should be grateful that they’re on the job.

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