For more photos: Celebrate America big hit with locals

As a pre Fourth of July celebration, Celebrate America had locals gathered to take pride in America.
Approximately 6,000 people showed for last Saturday’s event, which was designed to fill the gap left from the suspension of the Rocklin Jubilee. For the event’s first year, Kent Ferrin, creative arts director of Sunset Christian Church, said it was a success.
“We felt very good about it,” he said. “The set up, the park, the response from the community, the involvement from the people – it went very well.”
Among the schedule of events was a military tribute of about 15 enlisted service men and women lining up and entering through the side of the stage, walking through the crowd and receiving a standing ovation from the audience, Ferrin said.
“That was just a great response for the people, totally unplanned,” he said. It was an “incredibly emotional response to the military.”
The “late-arriving crowd” gathered at Twin Oaks Park in Rocklin once the weather began to cool from the triple-digit heat of the day.
“They came right before show time, they flooded in,” Ferrin said.
The reaction from the people in attendance was overwhelmingly positive, Ferrin said.
People seemed to feel “glad somebody stepped in and helped out. It was a very family-friendly event,” free from alcohol,” he said.
Before the night’s entertainment began at 7:30 p.m., people were welcome to peruse the vendor booths filled with food and information on local businesses such as Big Spoon, Bella Familia Pizza and Jamba Juice.
One of the night’s highlights was the more than 10-minute fireworks finale, Ferrin said, which began during the last stage presentation.
Donation boxes were set up throughout the park, welcoming contributions. Ferrin said they plan to meet with city of Rocklin personnel to discuss hosting the event again next year.
“On our end of it, we want to do this again,” he said. “We knew going into this, it was going to be our gift to the community.