ASHLAND —
Summer Motion will kick off in Central Park tomorrow, signaling the official start to the Tri-State’s observation of Independence Day.
Already, as I type this, the Ashland Riverfront and Central Park are hubs of activity as the dozens of volunteers scramble to put together Ashland’s signature five-day celebration.
The event, now in its 24th year, attracts tens of thousands to Ashland over five days. They come, old and young, to play games, eat yummy festival food, hear fantastic free live music and to see the fireworks, of course.
It’s the stuff that make lifelong memories.
In the half dozen years I’ve lived in Ashland, I have made more than a few of my own fond Summer Motion memories and am looking forward to making more of them as the decades pass.
I met my husband during the week of Summer Motion 2006, my first Summer Motion ever. We met at the fire station but we both remember searching for one another across the crowd at the riverfront that night while the Oak Ridge Boys played. We remember the feeling when we locked eyes again that night that something truly had begun between us.
It was also the year, due to my reporting job, that I was given the opportunity to fly in one of the stunt planes that performed at the first-ever Summer Motion Air Show. It will forever be one of the coolest things I’ve done in my life. The thrill of tumbling through the sky thousands of feet above the city is almost indescribable.
Framed photographs of that day hang in a prominent place in my home and every time I look at them I think about that year, and how Summer Motion changed my life forever.
Last summer was also a particularly memorable festival for me. It was the first I worked as a volunteer. But, I also watched the fireworks from a canoe in Ohio River in order to photograph them with Ashland’s riverfront in view for another local paper. Afterward, hometown boy Billy Ray’s voice floated out over water to where we bobbed in the current under the Ashland bridges. It was truly a beautiful yet surreal night.
This year is already shaping up to be unlike any other and will be just as memorable.
As a full-fledged Summer Motion committee member it’s the first year I’ve spent planning a specific aspect of the event. I’m anxious and excited to experience it from this side of the fence instead of as a reporter or festival-goer.
It has already been more rewarding than I could imagine. From the camaraderie I feel with the other volunteers, to the satisfaction of things we’ve only sketched out in theory beginning to fall perfectly in to place ahead of Saturday’s grand opening in the park.
The best memories, I suspect, will come from simply watching the children and families that come to Summer Motion to make their own memories.
I feel truly honored to be a part of something so special to Ashland and look forward to seeing many of you there this coming week!
CARRIE STAMBAUGH can be reached at cstambaugh@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2653.
Columns
CARRIE STAMBAUGH: Making Summer Motion memories
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