Fourth of July message from Mayor Harvey Ward

Press release from the City of Gainesville

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Mayor Harvey Ward released the following statement today:

“I was seven years old when Gainesville celebrated America’s bicentennial in the summer of 1976. Looking back at The Sun’s clippings from that summer, I’m struck by how old-fashioned it was. We were a city of about 80,000 with a carnival, a watermelon-eating contest, bean-bottle guessing, and a county-wide beard and moustache growing competition. 

“Fifty years ago, Gainesville was a small place built around a growing university. Today, as we mark our nation’s 250th birthday, we’re a mid-size city of 150,000. We’re not a small place anymore. We’re a thriving regional center that pairs the momentum of progress with the character of the hometown I remember.

“July Fourth gives us a day to reflect on the value of that old hometown and its progress, past and future, each built on a foundation of liberty that lets Gainesville be Gainesville. It’s the foundation that gives us the freedom to speak up and out, disagree, question, create, imagine, belong, and make a difference. 

“Today, I give thanks for those freedoms and the many who have fought to protect them.

“Happy Fourth of July.”

— Harvey L. Ward