Fourth of July brings festivities to Pepin Park

The annual Fourth of July celebration in Pepin Park provided fun for families and people of all ages Wednesday.

The event included a flag ceremony, live music, a barbecue lunch, raffles, sno-cones, face painting, balloon animals, a small obstacle course and a giant beach ball for kids.

"It is amazing how many people turned up," Havre Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jody Olson said.

"We usually come. ... We have been coming since my daughter was young," said Tamika Jarvis, St. Jude Thaddeus School teacher and Havre High School volleyball coach.

It is nice being outside and just letting the kids run around, she added.

The lunch was served until about 2:30 p.m. and the music finished by 4 p.m., prior to the Jaycees fireworks display at the Great Northern Fairgrounds at dusk.

Sherri Simonson, one of the chairs of the event, said that they ordered about 1,200 hamburgers and though they didn't end up cooking all of them, they did run out of all 250 hot dogs they bought.

All that was left of the food when they stopped serving were some bags of chips and a few hamburgers, she added.

Simonson said she is very appreciative of the Lions Club who, for the first time, was in charge of all the preparation and cooking of the hamburgers and hot dogs.

The music portion of the event was organized by co-chair and one of the founders of the event, Haverite Allen "Woody" Woodwick.

Six local bands played at the event, Woodwick said, including a throw-together of musicians, including himself, as the last performance.

A volunteer at the event, Paul Tuss, said it was his first time volunteering at the celebration and it was nice to see a lot of friends, neighbors and community members.

Tuss, a Democrat who is running for Montana state Senate District 14 against Russ Tempel, R-Chester, was the only politician with a booth at the event, with a tent set up where members of his campaign were registering voters.

"It is a wonderful event to be visible," he added.

Toward the end of the celebration Simonson took the stage. She the community for its support in her three years working the event but since she moved to a different city, she said, she has had to pass on the torch to two new co-chairs for the next year, Jody Corner and Christi Marsh.

Corner said she feels really excited about the opportunity to help plan the event.

"I want to keep everything going as long as I can," she added.