The Red, White & Moo Milk Fest, along with various other activities, will be held on Saturday, July 2rd at the Courthouse Lawn on Broadway.

Activities will begin with the Red, White & Moo Freedom parade at 10:00 a.m. The parade will begin at Downtown Centennial Bank (201 W. 6th St.), head north on Austin street, turn right at 9th street going past the library and City Hall and head south on Broadway, ending at the Courthouse.

New for the parade this year will be a theme and prizes for the entries. The theme for this year’s parade is Red, White, Moo and Freedom. Prizes will be given for the Best Decorated Entry and Best Theme Entry as well as a People’s Choice Award. Parade watchers will take a photo of their favorite entry and post it on the Red, White & Moo Facebook page (www.facebook.com/Red, White and MOO Milk Fest). All winners will be announced at the Festival.

“We thought it would be a great way to get into the spirit of the day (with a parade contest),” said Melinda Brown, Main Street Manager. “We are most excited about People’s Choice Award – this gives everyone an opportunity to let us know which one was your favorite.”

Main Street will be coordinating the parade and participants are still welcome. For more information or to pick up an entry form, contact Melinda Brown at 806.296.1119 or mbrown@plainviewtx.org.

Following the parade, the Red, White & Moo Milk Fest will be held on the Courthouse lawn at 5th & Broadway from 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Activities will include music by the Plainview Symphony, bouncy houses, mobile dairy classroom, petting zoo, dairy tours and of course, free ice cream, milk and cheese. United Blood Services will also be on hand for those who wish to donate blood and appointments for donations can be made in advance at 806-797-6804.

Organized by the Red, White & Moo Committee, the Festival has been held for more than seven years and is celebrated across the country in June for National Dairy Month.

“We wanted to incorporate more organizations and help celebrate America’s birthday,” said Bernadette Mulliken, committee member and local dairy owner. “We as local dairies chose to celebrate closer to the 4th – giving us an opportunity to say thank you to the people of Hale County as well as educate the public about what we do and the products we offer.”

Local dairies also support the efforts of Plainview’s SnackPak 4Kids. Pop-tart donations will be accepted at the event and a golf tournament is scheduled for Friday, July 1st to raise money for the organization. The tournament will begin at 1:00 p.m. and anyone interested in participating can contact Kevin Carter at 806.729.1554.

Along with local dairies, Dairy Max and Southwest Dairy Farmers support the efforts of Red, White & Moo.

Following the festival, Millennium Park (8th & Broadway) will be set up for an outside picnic with tables, chairs and tents. The Band Boosters will be selling fajitas ($3) and water ($1) and selling raffle tickets for a Traeger grill – tickets are $10/each.  Money raised will help fund the band trip to Ireland.  Also, downtown restaurants will be open for everyone to enjoy.

After lunch, the Fair Theater (717 Broadway) will show Captain America: The First Avenger at 1:30 p.m.
                                                              
Released in 2011, the show is set in 1941 and the world is in the throes of war. Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) wants to do his part and join America’s armed forces, but the military rejects him because of his small stature. Finally, Steve gets his chance when he is accepted into an experimental program that turns him into a super-soldier called Captain America. Joining forces with Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) and Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), Captain America leads the fight against the Nazi-backed HYDRA organization.

“Action movies are as much a tradition on the 4th of July weekend as fireworks and we wanted to be a part of that,” said Brown. “This is the first movie of the Captain America series and we invite everyone to get out of the heat and join us for an afternoon of fun.”

The movie is rated PG-13 and is 2 hours and 5 minutes long. Tickets are $2/per person and concessions will be available.

The day of festivities will finish with the Plainview Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Firework show beginning at dark at RunningWater Draw (Kidsville) Park.

(News release from the City of Plainview)