New Harmony celebrates Fourth of July with annual program, golf cart parade and picnic

The Friends of the Working Men's Institute will kick off New Harmony's Fourth of July 2019 celebration at 10 a.m. Thursday, July 4 at the Atheneum with their annual Fourth of July program. 

The program, co-sponsored by the University of Southern Indiana and New Harmony Kiwanis, will feature a performance of patriotic songs from the Community Choir, a reading of the Declaration of Independence by Curt Schmitt, and a discussion by Judge James M. Redwine, on the hope of the American dream, on the topic Why Are Americans The Ones Smiling? 

Redwine served as a full time Posey County, Indiana judge from 1981 through 2018 and has been appointed as a Senior Judge for the State of Indiana for 2019 by the Indiana Supreme Court.

Following the program, there will be a decorated golf cart parade from the Atheneum through town ending at Maclure Park, where the golf cart decorations will be judged and prizes awarded. 

At Maclure Park, festivities will continue with a community-wide picnic. The New Harmony Kiwanis will cook hot dogs and hamburgers that will be available for purchase and Bob Minnette and the Dixieland Society will perform patriotic music from the bandstand. 

During their early celebrations of the Fourth of July, members of the Harmonie Society would invite area residents into their community offering locally brewed beer to their guests. USI/Historic New Harmony continues this tradition by providing free root beer.