Parade, Auction and Picnic to be Held July 2
by David F. Kelley, Community Journalist
GREENSBORO – Instead of celebrating freedom and independence with fireworks this year, the people of Greensboro are celebrating with a community picnic (including free ice cream as long as it lasts) and an auction to support the people in Ukraine, who are fighting heroically for their own freedom and independence. The auction and community picnic will be held on Saturday, July 2, on the green adjacent to the Greensboro Town Hall immediately following the Funky Fourth Parade.
Along with the auction, there will be a community picnic with ice cream, sandwiches, chips and soda for free as long as they last. All are welcome.
The Chair of Greensboro’s select board, Peter Romans, remarked that “the outpouring of generosity from the people of Greensboro in support of this auction for Ukraine has been just remarkable.”
Items donated include an Orvis bamboo fly rod in mint condition, a brand new snow blower (not even out of the box), a Hearthstone stove (used only one year), a breakdown travel bicycle (brand new, never used), half a cord of wood, two round bales of hay, hundreds of dollars of gift certificates, handcrafted woodwork, glasswork and metal work, countless antiques and dozens of other items
According to John Schweizer, one of the organizers of the auction, “it seems especially appropriate this year, when the people of Ukraine have struggled so bravely, and suffered so much, to defend their own freedom, independence and democracy that we make this effort, at this time, to show our support.”
Kelly Robinson, another Greensboro resident working to support the auction, added that “the devastation, destruction, and tragedy visited on innocent civilians and children in Ukraine by Russia’s unprovoked invasion defies comprehension. This is just one community’s effort to help Ukraine survive their fight for freedom and democracy but, as Robert Kennedy once said, “the collective power of hundreds of small acts of generosity can tear down the mightiest walls of oppression.”
The auctioneer will be Tim Nisbet, Greensboro’s longtime town moderator. The parade is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. The community picnic and auction will start at noon. One hundred percent of the proceeds will go to Save the Children’s Ukraine Crisis Fund.
