This year commemorates 233 years since our forefathers put pen to paper and declared this nation independent from British taxation and influence; to begin our journey into the great experiment of freedom and representative democracy. The first celebration of Independence Day was held on July 8th, 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was read aloud with an underscore of church bells and music bands. It was held in high esteem ever since, but was not made into a federal holiday until the early 1940's.

Music, parades and speeches have always been an integral part of how we celebrate the fourth, and this year is no exception. Hill City will have a parade beginning at 11am, followed by street games and events. Mud Volleyball will start at 2pm with registration at 1pm. There will be a Bald Eagle Water Show a 3pm by Hill Lake, a Pie Auction at 5pm at the Pavilion, Bingo half-an-hour later, and a Flotilla Parade at the lake. There will be music and a Street Dance at 8pm. Fireworks will round the festivities of evening off. Grand Rapids will also be holding their Annual Fireworks Display at 10pm from the northeast end of Drumbeater Island, with a rain date for the following day. Nashwauk will be having a Grand Parade downtown at noon, with a Car Show on Main Street at 4pm, a Downtown Streetdance at 8pm until Midnight and fireworks at dusk. A petting zoo will also be set up at the pavillion during the day. So there is something for everyone to enjoy the Celebration of the Nation! Happy Independence Day!

Layne Gneiting

On Wednesday, July 1st, the Grand Rapids Area Library was the stage for the storytelling of Layne Gneiting. Titled, " Magic Around The Bend," he included three stories to enjoy. On his summer bike journey from Washington to Maine, Grand Rapids was lucky enough to be chosen as a site for him to share his storytelling talents. Filmed by ICTV volunteer Donna Waech, this program can be seen on ICTV's public access channel when it premieres Wednesday, July 8 at 3:30pm. Please check our schedule for other upcoming air dates and times.

I can’t believe it’s already the July 4th holiday weekend. Summer is flying by way to fast. This weekend there are lots of events planned around the area. Our ICTV intern will be videotaping the Nashwauk 4th of July parade and another ICTV staff member will be videotaping the Hill City July 4th parade. If you don’t get the chance to see the parades in person you can always watch them here on ICTV. I hope everyone has a safe and fun July 4th holiday.

Nathan has looked at a ton of programming code this week. The challenge was to create message breaks in our video-on-demand delivery system. Why do we need breaks. To seek viewer support. Watchictv.org and the video-on-demand system are new ventures of our cable television work (The reason why ICTV's mission is now "strengthening Itasca area communities through public access MEDIA"). These modes of delivery need support just like our cable television subscribers provide support to deliver ICTV to their homes via that medium. Both video-on-demand and live streaming were created with a grant for equipment and set-up. Sustaining support relies on our viewers. If you appreciate getting local government delivered right to your computer, we'd appreciate your support. Rest assured, the video breaks do not interrupt any of the show.

This week at ICTV we have been redeveloping our Live stream and Video on Demand web applications. I have been rewriting all the code for the online players and making them more stable with faster load times. I have also been making changes to the look and feel of the video players. Over the next week you can be sure to see all our new changes to the website.