In Havre, much ado for the 4th

Organizers say the Havre Fourth of July celebration, now in its second year, is getting bigger and better, and they hope the trend will continue.

"Obviously, this thing is just in its infancy, but we've got about double the participants of last year," Rick Linie said today.

Linie and others in the community this year joined up to help Bruce Grant, Charlie Grant and Allen "Woody" Woodwick, who organized a parade and music festival last year.

The main event will be a parade down Fifth Avenue at 1 p.m. Sunday. Linie said Amanda Frickle and Doug Heltne have lined up about twice as many participants as last year for the parade.

He said Woodwick has assembled about nine bands, including country, gospel, blues, bluegrass and rock 'n' roll.

A local church will be selling nachos, and another vendor will have hamburgers, hot dogs and sandwiches. Linie said Coca Cola Distributors has donated pop.

Rod Rick, owner of PS Limo, is going to be offering his limousine for free rides - if the people can answer three questions about U.S. history.

Rick said he and his daughters, seventh-grader Madeline and fifth-grader Melissa, are meeting with professor Bill Thackeray of Montana State University-Northern to come up with some questions to ask the children at Pepin Park. The questions will be easy, like "name three past U.S. presidents" or "how many stars are on the U.S. flag."

He said the limousine will offer rides from about 2 to 8 p.m.

"We'll give rides to anyone who wants rides," Rick added.

Linie said entertainment at the park will include free activities for kids. Volleyball nets and horseshoe pits also will be ready for anyone who wants to play.

A hospitality tent, with free diapers and baby wipes, will be set up for people to get their young children out of the sun.

Rick also suggested that people bring their own folding chairs, as seating in the park is limited.

The Havre Wrestling Club will be holding a duck race Sunday down the Milk River as part of the celebration.

"So they'll be running around town selling tickets in the morning," Linie said.

The Pepin Park activities will wind down about 8 p.m., giving people time to go to the Havre Jaycees fireworks show at the Hill County Fairgrounds.

Linie said he hopes people who are celebrating out of town, maybe camping at Beaver Creek Park or at Fresno, come into town to participate.

"They're welcome to come in, watch the parade, enjoy the music for a while and go back out," he said.

He said the event seems to be growing steadily, and the planners intend to work on the celebration again next year.

"Last year it was just rudimentary. It had to come together in a couple of weeks. This year there was a couple of months of planning and more people involved," Linie said. "I think you have to have an event for a couple of years to show you are serious about creating a tradition. Hopefully people will realize that this year."

Rick said he wanted to get involved to help create a new celebration for the community.

"We're just trying to do something fun like they did 60 years ago," Rick said. "Like a country fair where people had to be creative for what was fun."