MOULTRIE, Ga. – A Moultrie bed-and-breakfast is offering a free Independence Day celebration featuring live music.

The Barber-Tucker House held its first Independence Day celebration in 2019. Due to COVID-19, the celebration was canceled in 2020 but returned in 2021. 

This year’s celebration will be 4-8 p.m. Monday, July 4. It is free to the public.

“We are trying to become what goes on in Moultrie for July 4,” Melanie Limbach, the owner and innkeeper at The Barber-Tucker House, said in an interview Friday. “We are having this as a family-oriented patriotic event.”

She said the event will be a first-come-first-serve, safe environment for families to come out and celebrate the United States’ birthday. 

“I will invite everybody to stand up and say the Pledge of Allegiance and participate. This is America; we are celebrating our birthday,” Limbach said. 

Lauren Maries, the 2021 Georgia Female Country Artist of the Year, will perform on the front porch of the house with a live band. 

Maries was a top 100 contestant on American Idol receiving a Golden ticket. She has opened for artists including Corey Smith, Shenandoah, Uncle Kracker, Nelly, Andy Griggs and Jamie O’Neal. Her first single “So Long” was released on Aug. 27, 2019.

Attendees will be able to enjoy the live music along with food provided from Kinsey’s Lab food truck and shaved ice from the Kona Ice food truck. 

Free water will be provided from All Care of Moultrie as long as supplies last. 

“Bring a chair [and] bring your family,” Limbach said. “It’s just really going to be a patriotic fun event.” 

Limbach said she invited City Manager Pete Dillard to welcome guests and start off the celebration with a brief opening prayer. 

“Pete has been not just our city manager and helping with things, [but] he’s been a friend. He’s been a good guy. He’s really a super person,” Limbach said.

Parking will be available at the Colquitt County Arts Center, which is located behind the Barber-Tucker House. 

The Barber-Tucker House is located at 704 Third St. S.W. in Moultrie. Currently, the building has large American flags displayed on the front of the house. 

The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution awarded the establishment in 2020 for its flag display.

Limbach said that the flags have become a way for the community to recognize the house.

“Everybody knows the house,” she said. “I used to keep the flags up from Memorial Day to Labor Day for just kind of a summer thing and those two holidays because then we did Christmas. Well this past year, I literally got asked to leave the flags up, and I decorated around them for Christmas.”

Each year, Limbach passes the flags on to other community members after the display is taken down. 

For those who cannot attend the event but still want to see the celebration, the Barber-Tucker House will be livestreaming on its Facebook page. 

For more information about the Barber-Tucker House, please call 229-890-0714 or visit the website at www.barbertuckerhouse.com.