Parade, kids games, fireworks to highlight 4th of July

By Kerry Lyman 

For the first time, Fernley’s annual Fourth of July celebration will be a two-day event. 

The celebration begins Thursday, July 3, with a Battle of the Bands at Out-of-Town Park from 5 to 10 p.m. A paid kids area will be available during the Battle of the Bands, and some vendors and food trucks will be set up. 

“This is the first time we’ve ever done this,” said Robert Perea, president of Fernley’s Fourth of July committee. 

The Fourth of July activities hit full swing starting with a $10 pancake breakfast at the Fernley Masonic Lodge, located at 40 East Street, from 7 to 10 a.m. on Friday, July 4. 

The traditional Fourth of July parade will begin at 10 a.m., starting at the intersection of U.S. 95A and Main Street and heading east on Main to Seventh Street. Many of the parade entrants, especially the classic cars, often continue to Out-of-Town Park, where the rest of the afternoon activities are held, Perea said, noting the parade usually lasts an hour and a half to two hours. 

A car show featuring classic cars from the Fernley Klazzic Kruizers car club will take place at the park directly after the parade, he said. 

From noon to 4 p.m., a free kids zone and dunk tank will be available on the Out-of-Town Park softball field. A live radio remote from Wild 102.9 FM will broadcast near the park’s gazebo from noon to 8 p.m., and the flag raising that begins the official celebration is scheduled for 1 p.m., Perea said. 

At 2 p.m., a kids and adults watermelon eating contest will be held. At 2:30 p.m., horseshoe and cornhole tournaments will be conducted at the park, with entrant cost determined by the event organizer. Prize money for the tournaments is based on the number of entrants, with the total divided among the winners, he said. 

At 4 p.m. at the park’s gazebo, judges will announce the best parade entrants. 

Also at Out-of-Town Park will be a “diving for dollars” event for children, where kids will try to collect as many coins as they can from the bottom of a splash pool in a given amount of time, with coins donated by Washington Federal Bank. 

A raffle for a “staycation” of one night at the Grand Sierra Resort in a Sierra King room and $150 in spending money will be held at 4:30 p.m. Raffle tickets cost $2 for one, $8 for five and $15 for 10. Entrants need not be present to win. Sign-ups for all contests and the staycation raffle will be at tables set up around the park’s gazebo, Perea said. 

“One of our most popular events,” the greased pig contest, divided into age groups, will occur at the park at 5 p.m. There is a $10 entrant fee for the greased pig contest, and winners will either be able to keep the pig or sell it back, he said. 

During the greased pig contest is also the annual “Battle of the Badges” between the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office and the North Lyon Fire Department, where entrants try their best to catch the slippery porkers. The sheriff’s deputies have won that contest three years in a row, Perea said. 

At 8 p.m., the Teachers Band from Fernley High School will perform at the gazebo, taking over after the Wild 102.9 FM radio remote ends. 

Then, to wrap up the day at dusk, will be the annual half-hour fireworks display at Out-of-Town Park. 

“We believe it to be the longest and best fireworks display in Northern Nevada,” Perea said.