Southport kicks off 40th annual Fourth of July festivities

SOUTHPORT, NC (WWAY) — Fire departments from across Brunswick County — including Southport, Bolivia, and St. James — competed in five team challenges Saturday as part of the Firefighter Freedom Competition and Apparatus Expo, which has been a staple of the city’s Independence Week events for four decades.

Southport Fire Chief Charles Drew said the competition is an opportunity for local departments to come together.

“With all the bad calls we have this is a time that we can kind of lay back relax have a good time enjoy each other’s fellowship,” Drew said.

Spectators lined East Nash Street to watch crews work together in timed events like the Bucket Brigade, which required teams — and volunteers from the crowd — to pass water by hand until a barrel was filled. The crowd referred to the St. James team as the “O-G’s,” nodding to their long-standing participation.

Drew said the annual event is about more than just competition.

“Brings comradery brings the family of the fire departments together just to have a good time and celebrate our liberty and our freedom,” he said.

Also part of the city’s opening weekend festivities was the Tunnel to Towers Foundation’s 9/11 Never Forget Mobile Exhibit, which has stopped in Southport for six years. The exhibit includes personal stories, artifacts, and a guided walk-through of the events of Sept. 11, 2001.

Billy Puckett, field manager for the exhibit, said this is the second version of the display.

The foundation travels across the country to educate the public, especially younger generations who were not yet born in 2001.

“So people never forget what happened because it’s proven if we don’t keep history alive it will repeat itself,” Puckett said.

Visitors begin the tour by learning the scale of the World Trade Center towers, then walk through displays covering the timeline of events.

“As you weave your way around you’ll see rescue and recovery clean up and then when you come up here where we are standing this is about the good that transpired from that horrific day,” Puckett said.

The North Carolina Fourth of July Festival continues through the week with events scheduled.