New Richmond’s Freedom Fest, including the cardboard boat regatta, held July 5-6, 2025, marked the village’s annual celebration of Independence Day, July 4, 1776.
Pictured, from left, are Jay and Sabrina Schbarrenberg.
New Richmond’s Freedom Fest, including the cardboard boat regatta, held July 5-6, 2025, marked the village’s annual celebration of Independence Day, July 4, 1776.
Greg Roberts at the Gowdy-Ross house.
New Richmond’s Freedom Fest, including the cardboard boat regatta, held July 5-6, 2025, marked the village’s annual celebration of Independence Day, July 4, 1776.
New Richmond’s Freedom Fest, including the cardboard boat regatta, held July 5-6, 2025, marked the village’s annual celebration of Independence Day, July 4, 1776.
New Richmond’s Freedom Fest, including the cardboard boat regatta, held July 5-6, 2025, marked the village’s annual celebration of Independence Day, July 4, 1776.
New Richmond’s Freedom Fest this past weekend marked the village’s annual celebration of Independence Day, July 4, 1776.
Folks may have been sweltering in the 90-degree heat; however, a shout-out may be in order for our Founding Fathers, who were in session, in steaming hot Philadelphia for a month. No electricity, no AC, no fans, no ice cold drinks, and no window screens; think flying insects. Hand-held fans may have helped some, but just thinking about the clothes worn could give one a heat stroke. Their daily formal attire consisted of knee-length frock coats, knee breeches, silk or woolen stockings, waist coats, long-sleeved ruffled shirts, collars, hats, heavy buckled shoes, and powdered wigs. Could it be that some delegates, worn down by the suffocating heat and long duration, adopted the Declaration of Independence just to “get the heck out of Dodge!”
Sabrina Schnarrenberg, post commander of the New Richmond Veterans of Foreign Wars, said the Freedom Fest has been in the planning for a year. There are 16 committee members, each with their own team of volunteers, and altogether it takes about 100 people to put on the Freedom Fest.
Schnarrenberg and husband Jay are both Iraq War Army Veterans. They met in Germany, and after two deployments to Iraq, they decided they wanted to settle down and have a family, so they moved up the river to Moscow, Ohio. Sabrina Schnarrenberg was a nurse before she went into the military, but after getting injured in Iraq, she changed careers and is now a 5/3 Bank financial officer.
She was in charge of coordinating the festival, but she said her real strength is in the financial planning of the festival. It takes about $70,000 to put on the fest, all funded and organized by VFW Post 6770. One of their sponsors is Small Town Home Health Solutions, and she said a special viewing area was designated for their patients to watch the fireworks.
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