Washington County Commissioner Todd Abbott and County Commission Chairman Tray Hawkins were two of the sponsors of the 2018 Vernon July 4 Parade and Patriotic Celebration on Wednesday, July 4, 2018, in downtown Vernon, Florida, and participated in the opening ceremonies, as seen in these photos by Real Florida Media, a subsidiary of The Goulding Agency.
‘We want to thank Todd Abbott for his continued support of Vernon and these activities’, said Hawkins during the July 4 Opening Ceremonies on Wednesday at the Vernon SportsPlex.
Abbott, who has participated in this and other events in Vernon for many years, joined fellow Commissioner Hawkins to say ‘Happy Birthday, America’, as hundreds enjoyed the parade, festival, entertainment and fireworks display.
Hawkins led the opening prayer, followed by Abbott who led the Pledge of Allegiance, after which Hawkins helped to introduce the perennial pageant queens prior to the start of entertainment, furnished by the Christon Birge Band.
‘This year’s preparation for the July 4 activities went very smoothly’, mentioned Vernon Mayor Tina Sloan, ‘due in large part to our Recreation Department. This followed on the heels of our successful ball season, with record numbers of players, and we want to thank Brent Gibson and everyone else involved in that effort’.
‘We want to thank all our sponsors for this year’s July 4 festival, and as you can see, our Washington County Commission representatives are right here with us this evening, and we want to say a very warm “Thank you” to Tray Hawkins and Todd Abbott for their part’, Sloan finished.
The Vernon, Florida July 4 event was the last in the area for 2018, following similar events in Bonifay, Marianna, Lynn Haven and Chipley, and all the activities enjoyed dry, warm weather this year despite threatening forecasts over the past week.
‘Thanks for allowing my family to again be a part of this great event’, said Todd Abbott, ‘We live in the very best area of this great country, and we are all very proud to be Americans’.
Abbott, a Commissioner in Washington County, Florida for eight years, has worked with Hawkins and the other sitting Commissioners to make major improvements in systems and budgets in this rural county in Northwest Florida, and has successfully worked to pay down the debt that he and the other Commissioners inherited from previous county officials.
‘We live in challenging times’, mentioned Hawkins following a performance of ‘God Bless The USA’ by local vocalist Lee Williams, ‘and the very best service we can provide to the residents of Washington County is good stewardship of their tax monies’,
‘You simply need to run the County like a business’, agreed Abbott, ‘and if you do that, and don’t spend money you don’t have, and listen to the people, you will be successful as a County’.
During the tenure of Hawkins and Abbott, Washington County has extended water and sewer availability south of Chipley on Hwy 77, enabling growth in that direction, and have embraced the ‘Hwy 79 Project’, a partnership between the City of Bonifay, Holmes County and Washington County, further enabling development on the west side of Washington County.
‘Vernon, Florida is one of the long-term beneficiaries of all this progress’, said Abbott, ‘and with the completion of the four-laning of Highway 79 from Panama City Beach to I-10, we will see amazing growth on the west side of our County’.
See more photos and video clips from this and other area activities on Facebook at Real Florida Magazine.
