Antioch, California’s July 4th, 2012 Celebration of America’s 236th birthday, is today!

Events begin at 5 p.m. with the Car Show, Kids Zone, food and entertainment, followed by the Parade at 7 p.m. – all on 2nd and 3rd Streets in Antioch’s historic downtown Rivertown. Then the grand finale will be the fireworks show on the river at 9:30 p.m.  Best viewing is along the waterfront from Humphrey’s at the end of L Street to G Street.

This is a FREE, Family Friendly, No Alcohol event. (The only costs are for the Kids Zone rides and items for sale).

Parking is available at the Antioch High School parking lots on 18th Street between G and L Streets and a free shuttle will be provided from 6 to 11 p.m. from the school lots to downtown and back.

For more information, please visit www.AntiochJuly4th.com.

Exhibit runs June 30th – July 21st, 2012
Antioch Historical Society Museum
Artist Reception, 2-4 PM, June 30th
Free Summer Concert, 6-8 PM, June 30th
1500 West 4th Street, Antioch

The Arts & Cultural Foundation, once again in partnership with the Antioch Historical Society, will host the 8th Annual Celebration of Art 2012 Exhibit at the Antioch Historical Society Museum.This is a non-juried exhibit with no required theme, with over 50 local artists participating in the event.

The event begins on Saturday, June 30th, with an artist reception from 2-4 PM. The exhibit continues through July 25th. The event, artist reception and entry to the museum are free. SPECIAL EVENT FOLLOWS THE ARTIST RECEPTION ON JUNE 30TH! Free Summer Concert, featuring Vocal Ease & the Boogie Men, 6-8 PM (in the gazebo).

For more information on the Celebration of Art, click here.

The Antioch Historical Society Museum is open Wednesdays and Saturdays, from 1-4 PM, and admission is free.

For more information please email Diane@Art4Antioch.org or call (925) 325-9897.

Once again, Waldie Plaza, located in Downtown Antioch, will be hopping with good music, families and fun this summer. Due to the generosity of the Lesher Foundation our summer concert series has been expanded to every Saturday in July and August, from 6-8 PM for the 2nd year! Thank you Lesher Foundation and all of our sponsors: Arts & Cultural Foundation of Antioch, City of Antioch, East County Times, GenOn, Give Always To Others & Company, Clay, Millias & Co, LLP and the Antioch Chamber of Commerce.

The Waldie Plaza lineup: July 7th, Spindrift California (Easy listening to foot stomping tunes); July 14th: Pittsburg’s PHDs (Latin/Jazz/Old School); July 21st: Sumac (Blues & R&B); July 28th: Juke Joint (Classic Soul & R&B); August 4th: Jessica Caylyn (Hometown Country Rocker & Nashville.

Recording Artist); August 11^th: Soul Request (R&B, Pop, Urban Jazz); August 18th: Bell Brothers (County Rock); August 25th: Tuck & Roll (50’s & 60’s Rock & Roll).

A special kick off concert will be held June 30^th, featuring local favorite, Vocal Ease & the Boogie Men, at the Antioch Historical Society (outside grounds) from 6-8 PM.

Seating is not provided; please bring blankets, folding chairs. For more information, visit www.Art4Antioch.org or call (925) 325-9897.

Monthly International Film Showcase at El Campanil Theatre

What: Foreign Film – The Bank

Where : El Campanil Theatre

602 W Second St

Antioch

When: Sunday July 1, 2012  2:00 pm

Cost: Adults: $ 8   Seniors: $ 7   Children: $ 7

Tickets: (925) 757-9500 or online:   www.elcampaniltheatre.com

“I’m like God but with a better suit,” declares Centabank CEO, Simon O’Reilly (Anthony LaPaglia) with pride.  Welcome to the world of The Bank, ripe with avarice and corruption, where O’Reilly and his ilk can thrive and honest Aussie battlers lose everything.

Enter Jim Doyle (David Wenham) a maverick mathematician who has devised a formula to predict the fluctuations of the stock market.  When he joins O’Reilly’s fold he must first prove his loyalty to the “greed is good” ethos.  Which way will he go?  What does he have to hide?

A heady, exciting thriller where imagination, genius and humanity collide with unabashed greed, the Bank marks a brilliant new foray into Australian cinema.

Directed By: Robert Connolly

Country: Australia

Runtime: 104 minutes

Screen: Color

Language: English

About The International Film Showcase

The IFS project is the brainchild of Efi Lubliner and Jo Alice Canterbury.  During the many years they have attended international film festivals around the United States, they compiled a list of films which they believe deserve wider distribution and recognition. After repeatedly recommending their favorite films to friends, they were frustrated to discover that these cinematic gems were neither screened in local theaters nor released on DVD.

Programming is monthly at El Campanil Theatre, The Orinda Theater and Blue Light Cinemas in Cupertino.

This year’s Antioch July 4^th Celebration – which will include fireworks for the first time in three years – will also feature a Car Show from 5:00 – 6:30 p.m.

So, if you have a Classic Car, Hot Rod or Low Rider, bring it down and show it off. The location will be in the City Hall Parking Lot on 3^rd and H Streets.

Registration/Check-In is from 3:30-4:30 pm.

There’s no entry fee but there will be fabulous trophies!

Then at the end of the show, line up and drive your car in the parade at 7 p.m.

For more information visit www.AntiochJuly4th.com.

Once again, Waldie Plaza, located in Antioch’s historic downtown Rivertown, will be hopping with good music, families and fun this summer. Due to the generosity of the Lesher Foundation our summer concert series has been expanded to every Saturday in July and August, from 6-8 PM for the 2nd year! Thank you Lesher Foundation and all of our sponsors: Arts & Cultural Foundation of Antioch, City of Antioch, East County Times, Genon, Give Always to Others & Company, Clay, Millias & Co, LLP and the Antioch Chamber of Commerce.

The Waldie Plaza lineup: July 7th, Spindrift California (Easy listening to foot stomping tunes); July 14th: Pittsburg’s PHDs (Latin/Jazz/Old School); July 21st: Sumac (Blues & R&B); July 28th: Juke Joint (Classic Soul & R&B); August 4th: Jessica Caylyn (Hometown Country Rocker & Nashville Recording Artist); August 11^th: Soul Request (R&B, Pop, Urban Jazz); August 18th: Bell Brothers (County Rock); August 25th: Tuck & Roll (50’s & 60’s Rock & Roll).

A special kick off concert will be held June 30^th, featuring local favorite, Vocal Ease & the Boogie Men, at the Antioch Historical Society (outside grounds) from 6-8 PM.

Seating is not provided; please bring blankets, folding chairs. For more information, visit www.Art4Antioch.org or call (925) 325-9897.

Dust off those picnic blankets and baskets and start practicing your best two-bar rendition of ooohhh-aaahhh! Yes, the outcome is certified with no ifs and or buts. By popular demand, Antioch is bringing back the Fourth of July full skinny this year, fireworks included.

The festivities start at 5 p.m. with a classic car show in the City Hall parking lot at 2nd and H and a Kids Zone at Waldie Plaza. Two DJ’s will entertain us.

For those wishing to come light, there will be half a dozen food vendors selling pizza, burgers, hot dogs, burritos, tacos, ice cream and other goodies.

The Parade, starting at 7 p.m. has something for everyone, from a marching band, Scouts and veterans, classic cars, tanks, school buses, martial arts and dance performers, to clowns and a circus performer. We’re keeping our fingers crossed for the Budweiser Clydesdales. The Parade Awards presentation will follow at 9.m.

Then the fireworks extravaganza, this year with accompanying patriotic music all along the waterfront, starts at 9:30 p.m.

In years past, crowds have been fifteen to twenty thousand people, but get there early as this one promises to be a knockout. Remember, we’re the only show in the area, that night.

Here’s a plea. Since the celebration is completely privately funded, this year, it takes the proverbial village to make this happen. Two years ago Susan Davis and Martha Parsons kept the patriotic embers alive by sponsoring a parade at Somersville Towne Center. Last year Allen Payton and I took on the mission, with the indispensable organizing help of Louise Green, of bringing the parade back to where we all agree it belongs – Rivertown.

Then for this year’s celebration, within weeks after the last parade ended, a July 4^th Celebration Committee formed to go the full nine yards and seek $65,000 needed to ensure we had fireworks – with all the costs covered including the fireworks company, barge, tuboat, permits, parade and city staff hours, including police overtime needed for the show.

In fact, along the way of our initial monthly and now weekly meetings, we added a bonus. In talking with merchants about the Celebration we realized that having our downtown trees lit year-round would do wonders for the ambiance, so, primarily through the work of Joy Motts, we have raised an ancillary $5,000 in cash and $5,000 in labor. Count Rivertown now lit.

Susan Davis, Louise Green, Allen Payton and I are co-chairing the Committee. Joy Motts and Martha Parsons are Fundraising Co-Chairs, spearheading the prodigious task of raising money. Jim Lanter and Rivertown Impressions are handling the T-shirts and postcards. Louise Green and family are managing the sound and car show and she, Susan Davis and I are orchestrating the parade applications, sequencing and trophies.

Robin Agopian oversees food vendors and youth group water sales. Connie Komar graciously hosts our meetings at her Rick’s on Second restaurant, feeding us freshly baked cookies to keep the enthusiasm high. Carole Harrison has been our faithful scribe and she and her husband, Wayne, are working with store can collections, poster distribution, security and clean-up details. Jeff Warrenburg is running a delightful Kids Zone. Diane Gibson-Gray of the Antioch Arts & Cultural Foundation and Sean Wright of the Antioch Chamber of Commerce, are assisting in the fundraising with the use of the non-profit foundations.

The community, as well, has been instrumental in making this celebration a reality: Kiwanis of the Delta-Antioch donated the event insurance and the Soroptimist Club will be donating the proceeds from glo-stick sales, Universal Sweep are donating the street sweeping the day before the event, Allied-Waste is donating the portable toilets, Funnygate Publishing donated the website design, Unlimited Graphic & Sign Network donated their labor for the fundraising signs, John Slatten’s East County Insurance lent us use of their fax number, eTanzUSA helped secure the fireworks contract, and the Antioch Herald has helped with publicity.

Our cornerstone grant, a magnificent $25,000 has come from the generosity of the GenOn Community Fund and Supervisor Federal Glover.

Major sponsors are Allied Waste, PG&E, The Beswick Family Fund/Sharon Beswick, Macy’s, Mike’s Autobody, Leo Fontana, Electrical Industry Advancement Program-IBEW Local 302, Contra Costa Building & Construction Trades Council, VFW, Roddy Ranch Golf Club, Antioch Woman’s Club, Joe & Martha Goralka and Pinky’s Klassy Karwash.

Special thanks also to the City of Antioch staff for their cooperation and the owners of Fulton Shipyard, as well as Ron Greger of Greger Marine and Chris Lauritzen for assistance with the barge, tugboat and patrol boat.

The story doesn’t end there though. We need public support as we are still about $10,000 short of our goal. Our motto is “Give $4 for the Fourth” because if every family in Antioch just gave $4 we’d more than meet our goal. Of course, if a family can spare ten or twenty, or more, bless them. Anything extra will be used as seed money for next year. We started at zero, this year and prefer not to do that, again!

You can drop off a check at the Chamber or Commerce or mail to the Antioch July 4^th, 21012 Celebration Committee c/o the Antioch Chamber Community Foundation, 101 H St. #4, Antioch, CA 94509.

You can also visit www.AntiochJuly4th.com and contribute thru PayPal or sign up to participate in the parade. Also visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/antioch.julyfourth.

Obviously, an event of this magnitude takes many helping hands. You can help promote the event, too. Just look for the full-page poster inside the June issue of the Antioch Herald, cut it out and tape it in your window, in your lunch room at work or anywhere people can see it.

Every bit helps as we bring back a family-friendly Antioch tradition and honor the most patriotic of American holidays.

Now on the count of three…… ooohhh, aaahhh!

Walter Ruehlig, Co-Chair, Antioch July 4^th Celebration Committee