116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Cedar Rapids Freedom Festival getting underway June 8, continuing to July 4
Cardboard Boat Regatta returns, new parade award in memory of C.R.’s Uncle Sam, and other bang-up events planned
It’s sink or swim time.
The Cedar Rapids Freedom Festival launches this week with the return of the Cardboard Boat Regatta from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 8, in Robbins Lake at Ellis Park, 2550 Ellis Blvd. NW, Cedar Rapids.
If you go
What: 2024 Cedar Rapids Freedom Festival
When: Events June 8 to July 4
Admission: Many events are free; $10 buttons required for ages 6 and up for Balloon Glow, Rock N Bowl, DockDogs, a Pancake Breakfast discount on July 4, the July 4 Concert at the McGrath Amphitheatre, and Celebration of Freedom Fireworks prime viewing and access to vendors and the free Kids Zone
Details: freedomfestival.com/
In addition to watching the boats try to stay afloat — and win various competitions — this popular event, last presented in 2011, is part of the Ellis Family Fun Fest from 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. that day in the park. The Cedar Boat Club is staging this new community celebration, with a pancake breakfast fundraiser from 8:30 to 10 a.m., a car and watercraft show from 2 to 5 p.m., a carnival fun zone and food vendors from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and music by Low & Away, from 6 to 8 p.m. Breakfast is $10 per plate and wrist bands are $5, good for discounts from event vendors and other perks. Details: cedarboatclub.org/events/ellis-family-fun-fest
Saturday’s festivities are followed by nearly 50 official and affiliated events over the next four weeks, including the annual parade, featuring the walking unit award named in honor of the late Charles Burns who delighted all ages by portraying Uncle Sam for many years. The festival will end with a bang on the Fourth of July.
“It’s kind of crazy to think about,” Executive Director Karol Shepherd told The Gazette, “so people that say there’s nothing to do in Cedar Rapids are crazy.”
Just look at the spotlight events: Tribute to Heroes Breakfast and Flag Raising Ceremony on June 14; Flag Retirement Ceremony and the Army Band concert on June 16; Balloon Glow on June 22; Freedom Bike Ride on June 23; DockDogs splashes and competitions from June 27 to 30; the Freedom Festival Parade on June 29; and the annual Pancake Breakfast, Car Show, concert and finale fireworks on the Fourth of July.
Admission is free for many of the festivities, but some of the signature events require a $10 button, available at Cedar Rapids and Marion Hy-Vees and Hy-Vee Fast & Fresh Gas Stations; at the Freedom Festival Office, 51 First Ave. Bridge; and at the gate for festival-produced events. Kids ages 5 and under do not need a button, and veterans can receive a free button at the Freedom Festival Office. Details: freedomfestival.com/button
Solemn ceremonies
Most of the events are fun and games, but several will have a more solemn feel.
First up is the Tribute to Heroes Breakfast at 7 a.m. June 14 in the Veterans Memorial Building, 50 Second Ave. Bridge, downtown Cedar Rapids. Honorees are Rodney Courtney, Roger Jensen, the late Mary Kay McGrath, and Honorary Hero Ron Slagle. Tickets are $35 or $250 for a table of eight, at freedomfestival.com/calendar/tribute-to-heroes. To learn more about the Heroes, go to thegazette.com/people-places/heroes-among-us/
Following the breakfast, the public is invited to gather on the bridge at 9 a.m. for the Freedom Festival Flag Raising Ceremony, beginning with the national anthem, the Pledge of Allegiance and a brief address. Details: freedomfestival.com/calendar/flag-raising-ceremony
The annual Flag Retirement Ceremony, already a moving event, is moving to Marion’s Lowe Park, 4500 N. 10th St., from 4 to 6 p.m. June 16. Shepherd said the AMVETS and AMVETS Riders will take the lead, with Boy Scouts assisting. The rite begins with the national anthem and ends with Taps. In between, the names of Linn County veterans who died in 2023 will be read, and the tattered, worn or soiled flags will be handled “in a very honorable way, placed gently into the fire,” Shepherd said, noting that about 200 flags are retired each year. Ashes will be retrieved and spread on veterans’ graves at Mount Calvary Cemetery. Details: freedomfestival.com/calendar/flag-retirement-ceremony
After the ceremony, attention turns toward the park’s Klopfenstein Amphitheater for some upbeat downbeats from the National Guard’s 34th Army Band. The space opens at 6 p.m., and the band takes the stage at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free.
Music isn’t the only thing on the menu. The venue also will have a kids’ zone, and snacks will be available for purchase. Audience members should bring chairs or blankets for seating. Soft-sided coolers are allowed, but glass is not, and bags will be checked as you enter. Details: freedomfestival.com/calendar/army-band
Veterans will be saluted, as well, through banners placed on poles around downtown Cedar Rapids, with a walking tour component. Pedestrians who click on a banner’s QR code can find out more about that person.
Shepherd also is excited to have the festival continue the tradition of flying American flags on the First, Second and Third avenue bridges downtown, placed for Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and Veterans Day.
“That was a program that was actually going to go away,” she said, “and we were able to get a grant and find sponsors to help us purchase almost 70 new brand-new American flags. … We’re taking the torch and being able to offer that program continually for the city, and (we’re) really excited to be able to do that.”
Balloon Glow
Always a favorite, Balloon Glow is returning to its new home in Jones Park, 201 Wilson Ave. SW, Cedar Rapids, on June 22. The glow is on the grow, too, adding the Bohemian Betty Flea Market from noon to 9 p.m.; the Volta Youth Music and Arts Festival from 1 to 6 p.m.; followed by ’80s cover band Birdchild from Des Moines at 7 p.m. The tethered balloons will begin glowing at dusk. Admission requires a Freedom Festival button.
Last year’s event had a record 10 balloons on-site. Shepherd is hoping for a few more this year.
“Fingers crossed for beautiful weather,” she said, adding, “They're just fascinating. … Then they typically will start flashing their fire to the beat of the music. It’s just a fun experience and Jones Park is just gorgeous. It’s a beautiful, beautiful space. (The City) is really putting a lot of energy and effort into that space, and we just go along for the ride.”
DockDogs
Canine competitors will be making a return splash at Kingston Stadium, 907 15th St. SW, Cedar Rapids.
But before the competitors leap for the prizes, everyday pooches are invited to give it a whirl, from 5 to 8 p.m. June 27. “Let’s Try DockDogs” is a no-pressure evening, just to see if the participants will even jump off the dock and into the water to retrieve their favorite toy, brought from home.
“You can actually attempt to have your pup jump into the pool, see if they like it or if they don’t like it,” Shepherd said. “We typically have around an 85 percent success rate.”
“Dueling Dogs” draws the cream of the canine crop to compete in three main aquatic events — big air, extreme vertical and speed retrieval — from noon to 7 p.m. June 28; 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. June 29; and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 30.
“The two dogs go head to head, so it’s kind of two dogs competing against each other,” Shepherd said. “Doggy drag racing is what I like to call it.”
These aren’t your garden-variety jumpers and fetchers.
“The dogs come in from all across the country,” Shepherd said. “I know last year or the year before, we had a world champion that came to compete, so it’s a pretty awesome thing, and a great event here for Cedar Rapids.”
Spectators need a festival button to watch, and if you stand near the pool, you’re liable to get splashed. “That’s really a fun part,” Shepherd said, adding that the June 30 event also is Family Day, featuring kids’ activities on dry land.
Parade & Uncle Sam
The Freedom Festival’s website describes the June 29 parade as “the ultimate trifecta of joy — candy, friends, and music.” And it’s returning to the downtown parade route, from 10 to 11 a.m. This year’s theme is “Celebrating 175 years of Cedar Rapids,” so expect to see lots of history and nostalgia on parade, from floats to musicians and walking groups.
“Hopefully, we’ll have a lot of entries that step up and really celebrate what living in, working and playing in Cedar Rapids means to them,” Shepherd said.
Among the awards for most patriotic, judges’ choice and best use of theme, a walking unit award is being named in memory of Charles Burns, who towered over parade-goers for years as an 8-foot-tall Uncle Sam. Burns retired to Florida in 2013, and died there on May 7 at age 83.
“It will be the Charles Burns Award for best walking category,” Shepherd said. “He was that man (Uncle Sam), and everyone loved him. His daughter, Cheryl, was talking about how (doing) what he did on those stilts is just impressive, like picking up young children and bending down. He was just everyone’s favorite.”
He was so loved that a framed photo of him as Uncle Sam hangs in the Freedom Festival Office.
“He has meant so much to so many people in the community,” Shepherd noted.
“When Karol first reached out to me stating that the Freedom Festival would love to do something this summer in Dad’s honor, I was surprised and honored,” Cheryl Burns of Cedar Rapids said via email. “Mom’s (Mary Burns) first thought was, ‘That would be just wonderful.’ ”
Hearing that the best walking unit award would be named for him, Cheryl said the whole family, including her brother, Chuck Burns, and wife Leah of Marion, “was really touched by that. And to know it would be a permanent part of the festival moving forward, was even more heartwarming. …
“Dad loved walking in the parades and waving at people, especially the kids.”
Her mother is pleased, well, saying: “It's a great distinctive honor that the Freedom Festival wants to honor Charlie as Uncle Sam.”
Side note: His mother, Velda Burns, made his costume, and it was folded neatly and tucked into his casket for burial, except for the hat, since they’ve lost track of it.
The Burns award and others will be announced in Greene Square immediately after the parade. That’s followed by the Tanager Place IMAGINATION! Square, also returning to Greene Square from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., packed with family-friendly STEM activities, vendors, community booths and music.
Fourth of July
The festival finale arrives on Thursday, July 4, with signature events beginning in daylight and ending with fireworks shattering the darkness.
The annual Pancake Breakfast will be served from 8 a.m. to noon inside the ImOn Ice Arena, 1100 Rockford Rd. SW, Cedar Rapids. But you won’t have to lace up your skates — the ice has been melted for the summer, revealing a dry concrete floor set up to beckon hungry diners.
Cost is $10 per meal, or $5 with a Freedom Festival button. “It’s a really good deal, and another Fourth of July tradition to start the day,” Shepherd said.
Work up an appetite or work off some carbs afterward, by walking around the Classic Car Show next door, in the lower parking lot closest to Kingston Stadium from 9 a.m. to noon.
A Freedom Festival button not only is your ticket to reveling in the Celebration of Freedom Concert, it also gets you prime fireworks seating in the McGrath Amphitheatre, 475 First St. SW, Cedar Rapids.
First up is Day’s Live Music at 5 p.m., showcasing the Des Moines area artist’s Tennessee roots and storytelling vocals through country, classic rock and pop stylings. Then at 7 p.m., Alisabeth Von Presley, a popular local singer/songwriter with a national following, will create her own fireworks onstage until the festival fireworks hit the night sky around 9:40 p.m.
The always-impressive display will be fired from the Second Avenue Bridge, and Freedom Festival buttons gain entry to more prime seating on the Third Avenue Bridge and along First Street SW. Vendors and kids’ activities — including inflatables, a rocking climbing wall, free balloon twisting and face painting for a price — also will be available inside that viewing footprint.
Putting it together
Although the city supports the nonprofit festival, it isn’t a city event, so Shepherd, her staff colleague and the 21 board members spend the year fundraising to meet the $400,000 budget.
“We spend it really quickly,” Shepherd noted, since “the cost of everything continues to rise.”
The festival also has two summer interns, but it takes about 1,000 volunteer hours to run the various events, so Shepherd always is looking for volunteers and groups to lend a hand, especially on the Fourth of July, and during the parade and Balloon Glow, through the festival’s Win-Win-Win program.
“The cool, unique aspect — and I don't think we honk our horn enough — is that we pay our volunteers,” she said. “We don't pay them directly. We actually have them tell us the name of another nonprofit charity, and we funnel the funds to them. So they all show up, they get their free T-shirt, they get to work a fun event, watch a free concert, basically. And then, they dedicate their funds to a nonprofit organization that they love to support.”
Honking their own horn has been a vital part of getting the festival back on its feet in the wake of the pandemic. Shepherd has been with the festival since January 2020, and feels like things finally are returning to normal.
“If you compare my first festival to this festival, it’s night and day,” she said. “I feel like we’re coming really back into our own. COVID still is a thing, but not so much in the events worlds anymore. I feel like we’re back to normal, I really do. So now, it’s just getting the crowds back out to get back into the swing of what traditions you’ve been doing.”
Comments: (319) 368-8508; diana.nollen@thegazette.com
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