This year's Fourth of July parade in Fallon will include a block party, bed races, pie baking competition, and other family-friendly all planned to take place on Maine Street at the conclusion of the parade. It will be a day of community-wide celebration not to be missed.
Fallon Chamber of Commerce Director Lucy Carnahan said the block party is being presented by the County Parks and Recreation Department, the City of Fallon, and the Fallon Chamber of Commerce. “The parade will have the same route as the past 11 years. And we never didn't have a parade even though some will say we didn't have one during COVID, we did. The only year it was changed was last year when it was held on Saturday, July 3 to avoid having the parade on a Sunday.”
This year, according to Carnahan, the parade has 14 sponsors for the block party that start immediately after the parade continuing until 2:00 p.m. “Each business sponsor paid $250, and for that investment they are placed in all our social media ads, and on all of our fliers,” she said. “We have 2-sided yard signs being printed for each sponsor with their logo that will be placed along the parade route. The last parade entry, a Parks and Rec side-by-side driven by Director Jorge Guerrero, will have banners thanking all of our sponsors. That's always nice because he's the last one, and he makes sure that everything is done. The yard signs are new for this year, and after the parade they will be moved from the parade route and placed around the fountain and in planters on Maine Street for the block party.”
The block party will include food vendors Wild West Burgers and Francine's Indian Tacos. Beverages of all types will be provided by The Alley Bar. Bed races will start at 1:00 p.m. In addition, for kids there will be water guns and water balloons, games, and a bike parade. The fire truck driven by Ozzie Henke will be on Maine Street with the water sprinklers going and will also be in the parade. “We'll have prizes for the kids, and cash prizes for the bed races. The cheerleaders were planning a dunk tank fundraiser too which is still being finalized. Some of the community organizations are helping too. The Rotary Club will help with the race times, 4-H will be there to help, and many others too,” said Carnahan.
An all-American pie bake-off is also being held this year, according to Carnahan. It's open to anyone who would like to compete, but all pies must be turned in by 2:00 p.m. Saturday, July 2 at His Inspirations. “The pies cannot be of any type that has to be refrigerated such as cream pies. Honestly, we were thinking all-American apple pie, but any type of fruit or berry pie would be fine too,” she said. The judging will take place on Saturday with the winner being announced during the block party where they receive an etched pie plate. DJ Davey Munoz will be set up in front of the Fallon Theatre announcing all winners and providing music for the block party. Awards will be given out for winners in each of the parade float categories, and the pie bake-off.
There are three volunteers judging the parade entries; Jared Dooley from the City, Pete Olson from the County, and one from the Base yet to be named. “We always have three, one from each of those groups.” Carnahan said she also has nine announcers along the parade route, plus five military volunteers lending their help right along with parade committee members Wende Hook, Robyn Jordan, Kim Klenakis, Davey Munoz, and Carnahan. County Public Information Officer Anne McMillan attended many of the parade committee meetings and provided the public service announcements on social media that the Chamber was then able to share out.
Carnahan ensures that all of the volunteers and judges are fed and hydrated before the start of the parade. This year she's getting breakfast burritos from Wild Horse Cafe along with juices and water for the group. The Chamber office that was on North Taylor Street had a little kitchen so Carnahan would cook breakfast for the group. “Everyone would come there, and it was so charming to gather there beforehand. Now we just go around to each station and deliver to them. We want to thank them because it's a lot to do all the announcing and judging for 100 different floats. We ask the entrants to keep their float descriptions to just a few sentences as that is what the announcers will read as the floats pass by each station. We even have a family that entered. They just wanted to ride their bicycles with their five kids in the parade. I said of course, that's beautiful.”
Janess Digital is printing the business sponsor yard signs and parade awards. Fallon Glass and Sign is providing the sponsor banners as well as banners for the judges' station and the Grand Marshall.
At the conclusion of the parade, the parade committee will collect the judges' booklets, tally all of the votes for the parade entries, then prepare and bring the awards to the block party where they will be announced. The bed races will commence after that.
This isn't the first time a post-parade party has been held. “Years ago we'd do a block party but then it was dropped,” said Carnahan, “and the county went with the picnic in the park at the fairgrounds. But this year we thought we'd go back to the block party and bed races. It seems to have more attendance downtown because people are already there for the parade.”
Rattlesnake Raceway has a slate of races scheduled to start at 5:00 p.m. Fireworks will light up the sky to wrap up the day, shot from behind the raceway at dusk.
“I just love Fourth of July,” said Carnahan. “It's a very good time to get families together and have a family-oriented block party. If someone would like an adult beverage, it will be there too. It should be a lot of fun for all ages.”
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