One key event will be missing from this year's NC 4th of July Festival. Here's why.
The N.C. 4th of July Festival has returned this year, but one of its most popular events is missing from the line-up.
The naturalization ceremony will not be held due to COVID-19 protocols that are still in place at the federal level. Karen Sphar, administrator of the NC 4th of July Festival, explained that when they began planning for the 2022 event, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services staff had not returned to the office.
“They weren’t doing any naturalization ceremonies with spectators at the time,” Sphar said. “It was very restrictive.”
Because planning that event is a major effort on the part of festival volunteers and involves coordinating with other organizations, Sphar said the committee made the decision early on to pull it from this year’s schedule.
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“If nobody can watch it, then we can’t have it as an event,” Sphar said.
In an email, Katherine Tichacek, public affairs officer for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said that offsite ceremonies are meaningful for citizenship candidates and their families, and they “reflect the welcoming spirit of our nation and our community.”
She confirmed that several factors are considered when making the decision to participate in offsite ceremonies, such as the one in Southport. Those factors include staffing, convenience of the location for citizenship candidates, and COVID-19 protocols. She noted that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is currently following the updated guidelines released by the Centers for Disease Control on February 25, 2022, and those updated guidelines are used to modify procedures for mask-wearing, room capacity, social distancing, and travel restrictions.
Tichacek said these guidelines “impact participation in off-site ceremonies.”
“For example, outdoor venues must have an indoor alternative in case of bad weather, and that space must be large enough to allow for social distancing if the CDC community level at the time of the ceremony is ‘high,’” Tichacek said.
She added that changes in community COVID-19 levels also prevent staff from committing to ceremonies far in advance, so decisions are “made on a case-by-case basis depending on the current CDC community levels.”
Citizen candidates who wish to participate in a naturalization ceremony may do so at a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office. In-office ceremonies have been modified to adhere to COVID-19 guidelines. Modifications include a shorter ceremony, which includes all the legally required portions but limits some ceremonial elements.
Also, attendance is limited only to those being naturalized with two exceptions: a parent or trusted adult with a candidate who is a minor and individuals aiding candidates with disabilities. Judicial ceremonies are also offered in federal courthouses and adhere to the COVID-19 safety guidelines of that courthouse.
Randy Jones, president of this year’s N.C. 4th of July Festival, said that for him personally, watching the citizenship candidates take their oath of citizenship on the lawn at Fort Johnston has always been one of the festival highlights, and he hates that it won’t be part of this year’s festival.
“But I understand why we can’t have it,” he said.
However, he hopes to see it return for the 2023 festival.
“As (festival) president, I’ll do everything in my power to make sure it returns next year in its full glory,” he said.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Naturalization ceremony missing from NC 4th of July Festival
