ASHVILLE — The Tunes Around Town Music Festival is going to start with a bang, and end with a bang.

A cannon will be fired to open the festival July 7, at 10 a.m., and a huge fireworks show will end it later that night. The event will be held in downtown Ashville.

Ben Hestley said the cannon is owned by St. Clair Camp 308, and will be fired by the battery crew of the John W. Inzer Artillery group. The battery crew consists of Commander Bill Watkins, Dan Williams, Stan Robertson, Ernie Pyle and Tommy Vaughan.

Jalene Peaspanen organized this event with proceeds going to purchase new uniforms for the Ashville High School Band.

Peaspanen approached the city council a few months ago about the city helping with the event. Mayor Robert McKay and the city council agreed to sponsor a gigantic fireworks show that will conclude the day’s activities.

The fireworks show will be put on by Pyro Productions from Adamsville, and will cost the city anywhere from $3,500 to $4,000.

Peaspanen said there would be activities planned all day long that everyone, young and old, could enjoy.

Activities such as arts and crafts, music and a KidZone. There will be plenty of food as well.

“We are having a flag retirement ceremony to honor our veterans during the festival,” Peaspanen said. “The local VFW and AMVETS posts and Boy Scout Troop 777 from Gadsden are planning on participating in that. The Inzer Museum plans to have several of its members in full Confederate uniform attending the ceremony as well.”

Peaspanen said there are four churches that are sponsoring the KidZone. They are Ashville First United Methodist Church, First Baptist Church Ashville, Happy Home Baptist Church and Reeves Grove Baptist Church.

“There will be plenty of things for the kids to do,” she said. “We still have a few spots open for KidZone, so if additional churches want to come and participate, they should contact me.”

Food will include BBQ/Boston Butts, ribs, hamburgers, hot dogs, Italian sausage, cotton candy, shaved ice, popcorn, boiled peanuts, roasted peanuts and plenty of drinks.

“I think the music festival will be a great event for Ashville,” Peaspanen said. “It’s a win-win for everyone involved. Good for the town to have an event like this and then fireworks, a good fundraiser for the AHS Marching Band to be able to purchase new uniforms and good for our vendors to come out and get their name out there. The churches participating hope to reach new people that may be looking for a church home and do community outreach. We are very excited about the good response we’ve had so far and look forward to a great event.”

Peaspanen said even though this is the first year, they have had such overwhelming support from the community, and for that — she is so thankful.

“I hope that this event continues to grow and will become something everyone looks forward to every year,” she said. “The idea first came because the band boosters were looking for a way to raise funds to purchase new uniforms for the marching band.”

With the total cost of the uniforms being right at $30,000 ($300 per uniform for 100 uniforms to get all of the correct sizes needed for future students), Peaspanen knew they would have to do something special to raise the money.

“Obviously, that is a large amount of money to try and raise,” she said. “We wanted to do something that would be a fundraiser, but also be something good for the community, and thus the idea for the music festival was born. Through a lot of hard work, it is coming together very well, and we hope that everyone really enjoys the music and the fireworks.”

Other sponsors include Flow of the Spirit Church, Fouts Tractor, Sew Nice Embroidery & Gifts, The John W. Inzer Museum and Friends of the Old Masonic Lodge and BB&T Bank.

For more information, call 205-594-5461 or 205-229-9715 or visit them on Facebook at Tunes Around Town Music Festival.

Contact Gary Hanner at ghanner@thestclairtimes.com.