News

America 250 celebration features parade, music, fireworks

By Bill Moss, Published: May 9, 2026

Hendersonville’s smalltown Main Street will come alive with a red, white and blue celebration of America’s 250th birthday on the Fourth of July, including a parade, reading of the Declaration of Independence, music headliner Blake Ellege and a spectacular fireworks show.

As always, the Downtown Merchants and Business Association is organizing the Fourth of July parade, which will be far bigger than usual.

Marching bands, floats and other parade entries will stage at Hendersonville High School and move south, covering the same route as the King Apple Parade, which closes the N.C. Apple Festival.

At 5:30 p.m., the county will kick off a special ceremony to commemorate the 250th anniversary, led by emcee Mike Morgan and featuring County Manager John Mitchell, Board of Commissioners Chair Bill Lapsley, Hendersonville Mayor Barbara Volk, retired U.S. Army Maj. Bob Johnson from VFW Post 5206, Jeff Miller from Blue Ridge Honor Flight, students from all five county high schools and the VFW Color Guard. 

Junior Appalachian Musicians — the JAM Kids — will open the music lineup at 5 p.m. The Lonesome Road Band will play at 6, followed by the Blake Ellege performance at 7:30.

A Transylvania County native and 2014 graduate of Brevard College, Ellege began touring nationally at age 4 in Chosen, the family’s Southern gospel trio. A bio on his website describes an early performance.

“When he was 2 years old, during a church service one Sunday, he looked at his mother and said ‘Mommy, I want to sing.’ She stood him up on the piano bench, and to her amazement, he sang all three verses and choruses of a hymn," a bio-sketch on the Blake Ellege website says. "It was then that she knew that he was destined for greatness.”

He placed first in the youth division of the North Carolina Gospel Singing Championship for five years running until he aged out at 11.

At Brevard College, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in music with an emphasis in Classical Vocal Music Performance, Ellege won numerous awards including Most Outstanding Music Performer and the Asheville Lyric Opera Guild Scholarship. In 2013 he received a nomination from the Kennedy Center for Best Sound Design in a Collegiate Theater Production.

Ellege was named Outlaw Country Artist of the Year in 2022 at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville as part of the Josie Music Awards and in April 2024 starred in the “Country Gold” show at the Flat Rock Playhouse.

Here’s the lineup:

• 10 a.m. Pledge of Allegiance
• 10:30 a.m.  Fourth of July Parade
• 11:30 a.m. Reading of the Declaration of Independence; Ice Cream Social (while supplies last), Heritage Museum
• 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Heritage Museum events
• 5 p.m. JAM Kids band (bluegrass and old-time)
• 5:30 p.m. America 250 Ceremony
• 6:15 p.m. Lonesome Road Band
• 7 p.m. It's 5 O'clock Somewhere, Welcome Center stage
• 7:30 p.m. Blake Anthony Ellege & Band
• 9:30 p.m. Fireworks

City farmers market open Friday evening

The Hendersonville Farmers Market will hold a special one-time evening market from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, July 3, on Maple Street in the Historic Seventh Avenue District in honor of the America 250 celebration. The market will temporarily shift from its usual Saturday morning schedule for the patriotic event, which will feature local vendors, family activities, live entertainment, free hot dogs while supplies last, yard games and kid-friendly activities. There will be no Hendersonville Farmers Market on Saturday, July 4. Visitors are encouraged to attend the annual Independence Day Parade and Celebration on Main Street.

Railroad club hosts Fourth of July event

The Apple Valley Model Railroad Club will host a train-oriented Independence Day exhibit from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, July 4, at the Historic Train Depot, 650 Maple St.

There will be a diesel locomotive with a crew from the Blue Ridge Southern Railroad. The crew will answer questions about the locomotives and railroading today.

The train club has indoor exhibits of railroad memorabilia and an operating HO gauge layout depicting towns in Western North Carolina that had train service from the 1950s to mid-1960s. There is an outdoor G gauge railroad depicting gravel and timber operations in Western North Carolina in the early 1900s. Kids can run HO scale models of Thomas the Tank Engine and Emily.

Narrators will tell the stories of the railroad in Canton, Asheville, Black Mountain, Hendersonville and of course the famous Saluda grade. Visitors can try finding all the items in a scavenger hunt or try typing Morse code on a 100-year-old telegraph.

An N-scale model railroad club just across the tracks from the Depot will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The depot and N-scale model will be open rain or shine. There is no admission to either club, although donations are welcome.