Someday I may celebrate the 4^th in a big city with huge fireworks shows, parades with 76 trombones, tall ships and big stars on a big stage, but I’m not sure the experience can match a small town 4^th.

As a kid in our suburb, we started with a parade in the morning, then home for a BBQ, hot dogs with all the good spicy stuff a Jersey dog can offer.  Then to the High School for a model airplane meet, where the dogfights with model mustangs, hurricanes and spitfires streaming ribbons with the opponent trying to cut the ribbon with it’s prop without crashing both planes or tangling the control wires.  That was followed by a swim at Graydon Pool, then home for hamburgers, fresh corn and Jersey tomatoes.  My grandfather always said the corn should be knee high by the 4^th of July but we somehow always had fully grown ears to eat.

After dinner the whole community gathered at the Veterans Field band shell for a concert by the town band as the sun set and then fireworks, one shot at a time “boom, ooh, aah; boom, aah, ooh” until the finale when the sky exploded.  Then ice cream. In high school the model airplane meet was replaced by a baseball game.

We took my parents to Skagway one 4^th.  Pop said he thought he had seen the same kazoo band pass by before, I told him that this was the third pass, they had a small parade so they kept going around the block.  Pop was charmed.

Every small town resident in Alaska feels their 4^th is the best, me included.  This year the 4^th was the center point of a three day celebration.  I will focus on the day itself with the caveat that there is a lot I missed, like the community contra dance in the net shed and the wildlife cruise.  For me it started with the parade of old cars and trucks that I could watch from my deck.

Then it’s off to the booths, where all American food like pancit, chicken adobo, tamales, fry bread, reindeer red hots, black cod tacos and street corn.  There are also carnival games for kids at the booths.

A highlight is the fast pitch softball league dunk tank.  Three tries for 5 bucks, or if you are not skilled, drop two sawbucks and you get to push the paddle and dunk the kid.  In the past people dunked local celebrities like the mayor, or perhaps the radio station manager (me).

Then comes the parade, led by our vets.  My favorites float is always the Sitka Sentinel’s promoting the first amendment.  I also love the energy of the Sitka Fine Arts Camp.  The old firetruck was in the parade this year and I always give a big cheer for the Coast Guard.

After the parade Raven Radio treats the town to root beer floats, with help from Harry’s Soda Fountain and Harbor Mountain Brewing.

From there I went to the kids’ “field” games.  No foot races (Gunny sacks), two foot races, three foot races, and four foot races (wheelbarrow).

Before the water fight I made a brief stop at the tripod set up in Totem Square to see members of Sitka Cirque perform.

Then my favorite, the Rotors vs. Motors water fight. Coast Guard vs the Sitka Volunteer Fire Department.  Two fire hoses, a red, white and blue keg and everyone gets wet.

The best way to experience this is looking at a video. If you get this in your email the video does not copy. So if you want to see a video of slightly less than a minute please look at this in a browser are rich.mcclear.net. It shows one of the rounds of the water fight followed by the sheer joy of everyone getting wet.

We tried to stop for some corn dogs on the way home at the Elks but they were sold out so we cooked some from the supermarket at home.   At about 11 PM friends on Jamestown Bay set off fireworks that I watched from my deck.  After that a short nights sleep because there will be more tomorrow!