HISTORY OF THE ULTIMATE FREEDOM EVENT
The Ultimate Freedom Event started in 2015 when Cliff Forbes, Lead Pastor of New Beginnings Church of God, saw a need in the Meadville Community for a family friendly, low cost event that was held on the 4th of July. He realized that the New Beginnings Meadville Campus had the room and manpower to hold such an event. Cliff began brainstorming with the staff to see how to make this happen. As a staff, we decided to make this a FREE event for the community. We booked musical acts for entertainment, rented bounce houses and games for the kids, and offered food vendor spaces free of charge, so the food vendors could pass that savings on to the people who would attend. We asked for small sponsorships from our Church Family and area businesses to help run the event, but covered the bulk of the cost out of the church budget.
The 2015 event was a HUGE success! We saw over 2000 people on July 4, 2015. Since then, this event has grown! In 2016 we added a Classic Car Cruise-In, more games and activities to the kid's area, and more food vendors to accommodate the crowd we anticipated. Guess what? We were amazed to have doubled the attendance! Again, we expanded for our 2017 event by moving our Kid's Fun Zone to a larger area on the property, adding a Kid's Stage with music and entertainment, and adding additional food vendors. In 2017, we had over 5000 people! The 2018 event saw similar growth!
Our goal is to expand again so families can come and enjoy the day and not be worried about expensive entrance fees or ticket prices. And we still offer our food vendor spaces free of charge, asking only that they keep their pricing low! We hope you will be able to join us on July 4, 2019! This year's event will be held at the Crawford County Fairgrounds because of a building expansion project happening on the New Beginnings Meadville grounds.
Just like previous years, there is no admission fee, no charge for the entertainment, and no charge for most activities in the Kid's Fun Zone. There are some optional kids activities that have a small fee and concessions are available for purchase throughout the event.