In one week the Mount Vernon Jaycees will bring back Kids’ Alley to the Salute to Freedom. For the past several years there has been little other than concessions and fireworks at the Salute. Different people have conflicting stories about why the Jaycees gave control of the Salute back to the city/Tourism Bureau, but we are back with entertainment for kids this year.

We have created skee-ball, tic-tac-toe, a basketball shoot, ducky pond (for small children), face-painting, dart toss/balloon pop, and a frisbee throw. There should be no shortage of activities to keep the kids busy until the fireworks display begins at dusk.

There will be prizes given to every participant, with larger prizes for successful participants. There will also possibly be a trade-up option where 3 small prizes can be traded for a medium, and 3 medium prizes for a large prize. We have yet to firmly decide if we will offer the trade-up option yet.

Thankfully, we did spend more on prizes than most people will expect. There will be no super-cheap “spider-ring” prizes at our booths. Everyone will get a prize, and we believe they are good prizes.

The games will cost $1/each/try. We believe that is a fair cost to have some entertainment and a guarantee you won’t walk away empty handed.

We were just informed this evening that we will have a handmade American flag afghan to be raffled off as well. Tickets for this drawing will be $1/each as well, or 6/$5. It is a little warm for an afghan right now, but it does look nicely done.

That’s my summary of the Jaycees activities at the Mount Vernon Salute to Freedom on July 4th. We will open with the gates at 5PM and stay open as long as we have prizes, or until the fireworks display starts.