For as long as Peter Romans, chair of the Greensboro Selectboard, can remember, Independence Day has been celebrated in town with a parade, fireworks, music, good food and people drawn from near and far.
This year, though, things will look slightly different on Greensboro’s “Funky Fourth.”
For one, escalating costs and backlogged suppliers led the selectboard to cancel the fireworks show.
For another, the celebration will include an auction on the town green to benefit the people of Ukraine as they fight for their own independence thousands of miles away.
David Kelley, a member of the Greensboro Selectboard, brought the idea of a Ukraine fundraiser to the board. Kelley is a former visiting scholar at Harvard University’s Russian Research Center and a co-founder of PH International — a Vermont-based initiative formed in 1985 to foster cultural and educational exchanges between the then-USSR and the United States.
John Schweizer, a longtime Greensboro resident, has been working with Kelley to put together the auction.
“David and I are both very big on democracy,” Schweizer said. “We feel that it’s an obligation of us Americans to help other countries struggling to maintain their democracy, and there’s no better day to do it than a day that celebrates our independence and the beginning of our democracy.”
Schweizer notes that Greensboro’s population swells from around 800 people most of the year to upward of 3,000 people during the summer, making the summer a good time to try to raise money for a cause.
The auction will follow the town’s Independence Day parade, which begins at 10 a.m. on Saturday, July 2, and will benefit Save the Children’s Ukraine Crisis Fund. The charity, which has been operating in Ukraine since 2014, focuses on delivering humanitarian aid to children and their families. Brad Irwin, chair of Save the Children’s board of directors, also has a home in Greensboro.
The auction will feature 80 donated items that are each worth at least $50, including a first edition copy of Ernest Hemingway’s ‘“The Old Man and the Sea,” a uniform from the Olympic opening ceremony, a brand-new travel bicycle and locally crafted art. The organizers’ goal is to raise over $5,000 to be donated.
According to Kelley, the town also is working with the Highland Center for the Arts to plan a Christmas concert to raise more money for Ukraine relief efforts.
“My own personal hope is that we can partner with a town in Ukraine for a long-term relationship,” Kelley said in an email. “Recovering from this war, which is still far from over, is going to take many, many years.”