Flags, fireworks and parades

MOSES LAKE — The United States only turns 250 years old once, and Basin communities are preparing to celebrate in a big way.

Moses Lake starts the festivities a day early, with its Red, White and Boom celebration on July 3. There will be food vendors in McCosh Park and a live performance by the 133d Army National Guard Band, followed by fireworks at 10 p.m. 

The town named for the Father of our Country will host festivities all day, including a fun run, parade, patriotic program and the world’s largest cherry pie at the George Community Hall. The Quincy Valley Historical Society will bring its American History Mobile Museum, and Jeremy McComb’s Honky-Tonk Circus will perform, sponsored by Veterans Operation Creation. The day will finish with fireworks at dusk.

The patriotic observances will be in the morning, and most of the entertainment in the evening, said Elliot Kooy, facilities manager at the George Community Hall, with less happening in the middle of the day.

“It doesn’t work to do entertainment in the middle of the afternoon,” Kooy said. “It’s too hot and everybody goes home.”

About 6,000 people attend the celebration in George, said Community Hall Director Debby Kooy.

Grand Coulee Dam is a popular place to celebrate the Fourth, drawing tens of thousands of visitors to a three-day party at Grand Coulee Dam Visitors Center Park near the foot of the dam. There will be food, vendors, live music and a laser light show on the face of the dam July 2-4, finishing with fireworks from the top of the dam on the Fourth. Because the large number of visitors can make finding parking tricky, there will be a shuttle available to bring people from locations in Grand Coulee, Coulee Dam and Electric City.

Ritzville holds its celebration on July 3. There is an All-American Picnic with live music and vendors from noon to 8 p.m. in the city park, then the Hometown Heroes Parade on Main Avenue downtown, and finally fireworks at Lind-Ritzville High School.

Lind has a more low-key day planned, with a community potluck in the Lind City Park. There will be potato sack races, a bean-bag toss competition and lots of food, according to the Lind Chamber of Commerce.

Washtucna also keeps it small, as befits a town of about 200 people. The Washtucna Future Business Leaders of America will hold a by-donation breakfast, and the parade will take place at 10 a.m. on Main Street. A flag ceremony and community picnic will follow the parade in Bassett Park, and Sonny’s Tavern will host a horseshoe tournament at 1 p.m.

Othello has a full day of festivities with a parade downtown at 10 a.m., followed by basketball and volleyball tournaments. This year, the Chamber of Commerce is partnering with the Othello Community Museum to create a time capsule, said Othello Chamber of Commerce Director Jackie Wilhelm. Residents will be given prompts and some paper to write down their thoughts, and the papers will be sealed away to be opened in 10 years, she said.

The afternoon will feature a car show and five live entertainment acts, as well as a Kids Zone with children’s activities. Children will lead the way at the flag-raising ceremony, Wilhelm said.

“We’ll have a fourth grader doing the national anthem, and a fifth grader doing the Pledge of Allegiance,” she said. “We’ll have another fourth grader singing “Fifty Nifty United States.”

The flag will be lowered at 7 p.m. and the fireworks will begin at dusk.

“We’re trying to include the kids because they are our future,” Wilhelm said.

    The Fourth of July festivities are always big in George, including what’s described as the world’s biggest cherry pie.
  

    Othello’s Independence Day includes a solemn flag-raising ceremony. This year, local children will perform at the ceremony, according to Greater Othello Chamber of Commerce Director Jackie Wilhelm.