Meetings & Events

Let Freedom Ring Annual National Bell Ringing Ceremony

07/04/2019 - 01:30 PM
Location: New Castle Presbyterian Church
Address: 25 E 2nd Street
New Castle

4th of July in Historic New Castle, Delaware

LET FREEDOM RING-created in 1972-begins nationally with the tapping of the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight time. Each year over 100,000 Americans participate in sites that include the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, and the Washington Memorial at Valley Forge.

The public is cordially invited to attend Northern Delaware’s annual 4th of July bell-ringing ceremony. At 2:00 Eastern Daylight Time, beginning with bells in Philadelphia, bells across New Castle and across the Nation will peal, officially commemorating the birth of American Independence.

People of all faiths and ages are invited to attend the local annual bell-ringing which will be held this year at the New Castle Presbyterian Church on Second Street. Everyone is requested to be seated inside the church by 1:25 pm as the program will begin at 1:30 sharp with bells being rung at 2:00 pm. Guests will remain seated for the pealing of the church bells. Following the main bell-ringing ceremony, thirteen children, representing the thirteen colonies, will ring a smaller bell, donated to the day’s event by the Old Courthouse Museum. Janice Oppenheimer will help coordinate the children’s bell-ringing efforts.

New Castle City Councilperson, Valarie Windle-Leary, a member of the Caesar Rodney Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, will welcome the group to historic New Castle and introduce Mayor Quaranta. The Color Guard of the Major Robert Kirkwood Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution will open and close the program. Coach’s Bridge DAR will lead the Pledge of Allegiance, and This year’s emcee is Robert Layton Reed, President of the Major Peter Jaquett Chapter of the Delaware Society Sons of the American Revolution.

Re-enactors, children, docents and all who love wearing 18th century garb are invited to come dressed in period attire. Patriotic music will be provided by long-term participant, Greg Austin and the Vocal Exchange Quartet, members of Region 19 of the Sweet Adelines.

This year’s keynote speaker is noted area preservationist and folk historian, Mr. Syl Woolford, who will be speaking on the Black Loyalists and Black Patriots of the American Revolution. Mr. Woolford is a graduate of Delaware State University with a BS Degree in Business Administration /Accounting and holds an MBA in Marketing from Rutgers University. Recently retired from a career in accounting from AAA MidAtlantic in Wilmington, Syl is a Board member of the Friends of the Delaware Public Archives and the State of Delaware’s Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs Collections Committee. He is a Board member of Howard High School Alumni Association; Vice President of the Historic Preservation Fund end serves on the Wilmington University History Advisory Committee. Locally he is perhaps best known for the historic preservation of the Buttonwood School at 111 Buttonwood Avenue, New Castle DE 19720, where his rather was an instructor. The property was purchased by the Trustees of the New Castle Common in 1998 and conveyed to the Buttonwood Civic Association in 2002.

Bring your children, families, friends and neighbors of all ages as we celebrate the 4th of July, and the 18th century Delawareans who gathered in New Castle, to support the signing of the Declaration of Independence.