The Wilson Post
LEBANON WEATHER

MJ holds its first celebration event




Little Rivington Cassidy, 2, loved the “History Walk” at Celebrate Mt. Juliet Day on Saturday.

Little Rivington Cassidy, 2, loved the “History Walk” at Celebrate Mt. Juliet Day on Saturday.

Despite the nearly 100-degree temperatures, Mt. Juliet held its first Celebrate Mt. Juliet Day at Charlie Daniels Park last Saturday.

“It was an attempt to meld the north and south Mt. Juliet for unity in our city,” organizer and City Commissioner Ray Justice said.

Cornhole contests, food trucks, a car show were some of the event highlights. The musical highlights were mini-concerts by both Cedar Creek Band and Grammy-nominated Little Texas. Both bands wowed the audience who clapped and sang along in the heat.

Little Texas vocalist and bass guitarist Duane Propes, a Mt. Juliet resident, played for two hours for a crowd of hundreds.

“For a first-year event, I think we hit the bullseye with this one,” Propes said. “The Mt. Juliet Parks Department did a wonderful job with the whole production. We learned a lot today, and will hold on those lessons to make next year’s celebration bigger and better. The business community is already showing interest in sponsorships, so I’m excited to see what we can accomplish when we actually have a budget.”

Christopher Tubb won a fiddle signed by Charlie Daniels.

Christopher Tubb won a fiddle signed by Charlie Daniels.

“To me the highlight of the event was the History Wall,” Propes said. “Mt. Juliet has such a rich history that so often gets overlooked, so one point of growth as we continue this project will be to grow the history education aspect.”

Rivington Cassidy, 2, from Mt. Juliet enjoyed the history walk with his parents, Shannon and Jason.

“We love to come to Charlie Daniels Park and actually stumbled upon this celebration,” Shannon said. “We’ve been here since 1998 and just love seeing the before and afters of some iconic places on this walk.”

The walk was on the perimeter of the park and included a dozen or more “stations” with well-known signature homes and places with a throwback photo and description of them.

“It was a great day for our first annual event,” said Justice, whose birthday was the day of the event. “We had over 600 people in the course of the day. It was a great job by parks, Mt. Juliet Police and Fire Explorers. Those that attended had a great time.”

Christopher Tubb held the winning ticket for a fiddle signed by Charlie Daniels.

“I never thought I would win,” he said, holding the signed fiddle. “I am going to put this with a T-shirt Charlie signed for me in the past.”

State Rep. Susan Lynn, Fire Chief Jamie Luffman and City Judge Carolyn Christoffersen each sat in the dunking booth.

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