Issue date: 7/8/08 Section: News

Singer Mel McDaniel signs autographs after the July 4 concert at Morton Park. McDaniel said his biggest fanbase has come from the MySpace Web site. However, he said amoung the 1,800 accounts that are friends with his account, many of them are organizations seeking to hire him for events. McDaniel said MySpace has made scheduling easier. (Rick Kambic/The Daily Eastern News)

Over 3,500 people were at Morton Park to watch American Idol finalist, Bucky Covington, for July 4 Red, White, and Blue Days.

Covington was the eighth-place finalist during the fifth season of American Idol and now is a touring country music singer.

"We estimated approximately 3,500 people present for the Bucky Covington show on Thursday evening (July 3rd) and approximately 2,000 for the Mel McDaniel show on Friday afternoon," said Mark Jenkins, Charleston police chief.

According to Jenkins, Mike Ziebka, owner of Z's Music, booked the acts for this year's festivities. The city paid $17,000 for Covington and $9,000 for McDaniel, Jenkins said.

"It's amazing to me," McDaniel said. "I'm so thankful and grateful that I have a fan base that would drive as far as Kansas to see me."

Working on July 4 is typically normal for McDaniel. Because of a busy schedule, McDaniel said he was unable to experience any Charleston restaurants or establishments.

"We usually get to see the fireworks because our performances tend to be during the night time," McDaniel said after the performance.

"However today was an afternoon show and were on our way to Oklahoma (for performances)."

Besides the performances, there was also a section for the children.

"As for the kid's inflatable section at the park on July 4th, we had a record turnout," said Karen Petersen, special events and tourism supervisor.

"Over 400 kids really seemed to have fun on the giant slide, the bungee run and in the bounces houses. Proceeds from the inflatable games help fund Red, White and Blue Days."

There was also a foam pit for the children, as well as training boxes that firefighters would usually use to simulate small environment movement.

A fire truck was also on scene allowing children to take turns spraying the hose while others jumped through the water to cool off.

Jenkins said the weekend was fairly uneventful and there were no parking tickets issued related to July 4 activities.



Ashlei Maltman and Rick Kambic can be reached at 581-7942 or at deneic@gmail.com.

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