Small Lena's huge July 4 fest may be fizzling out

Nothing has stopped the community of Lena from staging its annual multi-thousand-dollar firework show and festival on the Fourth of July until this year.

A lack of finances and a diminishing group of volunteers are threatening a tradition that brings thousands to the town of 148 people every time the calendar hits July 4.

This year’s T-shirt design seemingly connotes that Lena Day, as it is called by some, has reached an end, reading, “All roads have led to Lena on July 4 for 39 years. Thanks for the memories!”

The festival has been a beloved tradition in Lena, a community situated in Leake County, for nearly four decades, and it all began in the late 1970s with an ice-cream social and 400 firecrackers.

James Milner, the minister of Lena United Methodist Church at the time, conceived the idea to host a patriotic community celebration in the churchyard.

“They didn’t know what was going to happen when we did this,” Milner said.

People congregated outside the Methodist church, brought homemade ice-cream to share, and set off 400 firecrackers strung between trees. And, with that, a Fourth of July tradition was born.

Looking back on what has become of the homespun festival, Milner describes it as “America, at its best.”

The event was so popular the community opted to host it annually, and each year it grew to eventually attract crowds in the thousands.

Sarah Langford has been involved with Lena’s celebration since day one. For 39 years, she has been one of a handful of volunteers who plan the event months in advance, and who help set up most of the props the day before the event. She said she “never dreamed” Lena Day would become such a popular venue.

“People of all walks come here to see this,” Langford said.

At night, Lena’s firework show draws spectators from all over central Mississippi. Sheriff Greg Waggoner, who has patrolled the event more than 15 years, says the usual crowd has been in the range of 4.000 to 5,000 people — or about 30 times the town's entire population — and that the roads are lined with cars for about a mile out with people aiming to catch a glimpse of the show.

Although the fireworks show is the flagship event, the day is filled with many activities.

Lena Day kicks off with an antique car show at 8 a.m. Musicians from across the state come to share their talents in a music program that starts midday. Arts and crafts and food vendors keep those attending the festival occupied between programs. And then there are the watermelon-eating contests, the tug-of-war battles, the sack races and a turtle race, in which children round up turtles, decorate the reptiles’ shells and see which turtle can “out run” the others. After a winner is declared, the children set the contestants free in the nearby creek.

With a host of family-oriented events, it is “the last of the old-time, fair-type events that you’ll have in a small town,” Lena Mayor Jerry Williams said.

On election years, even politicians turn up to work the crowds and give speeches. Some of those have included U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, former Gov. Haley Barbour, former U.S. Sen. Trent Lott,  House Speaker Philip Gunn and former Gov. Ronnie Musgrove, to name a few.

“Anybody who wanted a statewide elected office had to come to Lena if they wanted to get elected,” says Lena native Wahnee Sherman.

She has always spent the Fourth of July in her hometown. Even when she had a job in Washington, D.C., Sherman left behind all of the glamorous firework shows and programs in the nation’s capital to celebrate where she had grown up.

“It’s interesting because, for me, what we do on the Fourth of July is what our whole country should be about — family, community and faith,” Sherman told The Clarion-Ledger.

Sherman travels all over the state for her job, and, she finds that, if people know of Lena, it’s because of its Fourth of July celebration, and specifically, its fireworks show.

This year, Lena plans to showcase an $11,000 fireworks show. In the past, the town has raised the needed funds to pay for the fireworks in a variety of ways. It has raised money through a 5K race before, but mostly funds have always been raised through donations and selling T-shirts and food. Any money left over from previous fundraising was saved for the next year’s show.

Until last year, Lena Day volunteers cooked and sold hamburgers, barbecue chicken, hot dogs, cotton candy and freshly squeezed lemonade among other products to fund the annual event, but the rising cost of food has halted that effort. In 2015, they stopped selling lunches and invited food vendors in for a charge.

However, many aren’t sure there will be enough money to fund another year, and the number of volunteers has been dwindling.

Although admission has always been free to Lena Day, its audience in recent years has been declining as casinos and Ross Barnett Reservoir started hosting firework shows and detracting from it, but the festival’s turnout has remained in the lower thousands.

“There is a very real possibility it may not continue,” Sherman said, “It’s a sad thing, but it is the reality of it.”

In an effort to save Lena Day, the mayor and Board of Aldermen are planning to set up an auxiliary fund through which the city can apply for grants and accept donations in the hope of continuing the tradition.

Milner, the Methodist minister given credit for founding Lena Day, is now in his early 80s and has returned to the event every year as master of ceremonies even though he has long moved on to pastor other churches.

“My prayer has always been that somebody would pick it up and run with it,” Milner said. “It’s been a good time, but we’ve just run out of steam.”

Contact Royce Swayze at rswayze@gannett.com or 601-961-7042.