Zanesville Jaycees Celebrate Independence Day with Festivities at Zane’s Landing Park

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – The Stars and Stripes on the River Independence Day celebration began this Sunday at Zane’s Landing Park in Zanesville.

Community members had the chance to gather by the Muskingum River and enjoy various activities funded by Zanesville Jaycees.

The event has been held for over 43 years and gives Zanesville residents a place to celebrate the Fourth of July as a community. Food trucks, live music, kid activities, and a beer garden are located at the event – with the headlining musician being the band Zack Attack on July 4th. In addition to the live music, the Zanesville Jaycees will hold a fireworks display on the evening of the 4th – giving a patriotic finale to the holiday weekend’s festivities.

Taylor A Russell, the president of the Zanesville Jaycees, spoke with WHIZ about the pride the Zanesville Jaycees get in holding this event for the community year after year.

“Everyone always thinks it’s the city – but we work hand in hand with the city to get this done. But the Zanesville Jaycees have been doing it for, like I said, over 43 years.”

The Zanesville Jaycees are a local division of The United States Junior Chamber – giving young people between the ages of 18 and 40 the tools they need to succeed in business development, management skills, individual training, community service, and international connections. The non-profit organization sought varying levels of sponsors to amount to 22,000 dollars of support – allowing the group to give away 15 scholarships to eager Zanesville students. In addition to the scholarships citizen, Jeff Hardwick will be honored with the 999 award for his service to the Zanesville community.

Russell was grateful for the increased sponsorship support and what that meant for the organization’s community impact.

“Last year, we were able to do six $1,000 scholarships. But with the events that we did last year – with the concert series and all the other events that we added – we are able to do 15 this year. So we are pretty excited – this is the most we have ever done for scholarships.”

Stars and Stripes on the River will be open on the Fourth, with live music starting at 2 pm and the Fireworks being held that evening.