Pender County gears up for 250 Years of the Battle of Moores Creek Bridge
PENDER COUNTY (WWAY) — One of the most anticipated and popular festivals of the year is kicking off in Pender County.
“I mean, this is a milestone event,” said Matthew Woods.
Moores Creek National Battlefield Superintendent Matthew Woods is talking about the First in Freedom Festival, a week-long celebration commemorating the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Moores Creek Bridge.
“Here we are, Super Bowl week, well, this is the Super Bowl for this park,” said Woods.
Organizers showed off signage that’ll be used to promote the festival on Wednesday in Patriot Hall at Moores Creek National Battlefield.
Woods says that this year they’re supersizing the event.
“We’ve spread it out over three days. I think we’re going to see probably our visitation, not only at this event, but at the events taking place all throughout this North Carolina First in Freedom festival, double and triple,” said Woods.
Those three days will all take place at the battlefield, including the annual battle reenactment, which the park’s Jason Collins says will be larger than ever before.
“Numbers for a typical anniversary event is roughly around 75. So, you can take that number and multiply it by about two and a half for the number of reenactors we’re expecting for this year’s event, roughly around 200,” said Collins.
But a guaranteed highlight of the event will be an appearance by Diana Gabaldon, who appeared virtually at the presentation on Wednesday.
She’s the author of the Outlander books, which turned into a renowned TV series.
“I’m looking forward to it,” said Gabaldon.
The Battle of Moores Creek Bridge plays an important role in her book A Breath of Snow and Ashes.
Gabaldon highlighted how she immersed herself in her research for the book.
“Whenever I can, I like to go to the places I’m writing about, because one thing you can’t get from, you know, travel logs and things like that, is what a place smells like, so yeah, we came and enjoyed it very much,” said Gabaldon.
The First in Freedom Festival will be held February 21st through the 28th, and will feature events in eight counties across Southeastern North Carolina.
For more information about the First in Freedom Festival, visit ncfirstinfreedomfestival.com or the Moores Creek National Battlefield website at nps.gov/mocr.
If you’d like to volunteer to help with the event, contact Moores Creek National Battlefield at (910) 283-1740.
