NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. ()- Of all the July 4th celebrations Friday, North Augusta is celebrating Independence Day in more ways than one.

After 9 long months, suffering extensive damage from Hurricane Helene, community members have gathered at Living History Park once again. 

“It feels really good, especially since it’s been closed for a while,” said Andrew Ronan.

“It’s nice to have it back open. It’s been closed for a while, and we always enjoy coming here on the 4th,” said Keith Ronan.

A few weeks ago, we got an update on storm cleanup from those running the park.

Although some areas of Living History remain closed for safety reasons, they are determined to reopen in time for their annual July 4th celebration. 

“We enjoy this park. We’ve spent a lot of time here over the years, so it’s great to see it open again,” Pat Toohey said.

Visitors to the park enjoyed reenactments depicting colonial life and a reading of the Declaration of Independence by Mayor Briton Williams.

“Few communities have access to this kind of greenspace and shade, along with the colonial history in a downtown setting,” said Williams. “This park is a treasure in our community, and I am grateful to the staff and the Old Town Preservation for hosting this event.”

The park is now working to make the repairs needed. 

“I know that one of our people met with FEMA last week and really went over everything. So, we’re hoping for the best when that comes back. They’re trying to figure that out,” said Living History Park VP Ding Denlinger.

Living History is self-sufficient, but they’re looking for help from the city. 

The mayor says more discussions are needed.

“They don’t really give us the ability to do a whole lot. This is kind of their thing, they like to build stuff. But, we will definitely need to probably figure out what that looks like,” Williams said.

For other park goers, they say while they see more work to do, they couldn’t be happier to be back.

“I know they have a lot of work ahead of them, but I hope the funding will be there so they can get it done, and make this park what it’s supposed to be,” said Tony Watson.

“We’re hoping that maybe we can change their mind to show them how important the park is to this community, and the Southeast, and it’s nationally known,” Denlinger said.

While Living History Park is working to get fully reopened, the park does not have a timeline at the moment for when that can happen.