PORT ANGELES — Fireworks will blossom like stars in the sky just 1,000 feet off City Pier to cap Port Angeles’ 2017 celebration of Independence Day.
The up-close-and-personal pyrotechnic display, set to begin at about 10:15 p.m. July Fourth, is among several changes in holiday activities organized and promoted by the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce for the city’s signature summer event.
Thirteen city employees and chamber members huddled in the Vern Burton Community Center meeting room Tuesday to flesh out the finer details.
“This year, we are doing things dramatically different, so it’s important for us to sit around this table,” chamber Executive Director Marc Abshire told the group.
“This is only going to grow and get bigger.”
There are old and new twists and turns for this year’s July Fourth events. (Details are at http://tinyurl.com/PDN-JulyFourth).
Activities are planned from about 11 a.m., when baked apple pies must be turned in at City Pier for a new “Pies on the Pier” baking contest sponsored by Necessities &Temptations gift shop, until about 12 hours later, when the last of the fireworks flares out.
“Bake a pie, bake a pie, bake a pie,” Necessities &Temptations owner Edna Petersen, whose goal is 50 contest entries, implored those at the meeting.
“You think I’m kidding. I’m not.”
There also will be a new 1.3-mile parade route; tried-and-true live music at City Pier at 1:30 p.m., 3:30 p.m. and 8 p.m.; and 5K and 10K fun runs at 1 p.m. to prime participants to kick up their heels for the next several hours.
The parade route will turn downtown Port Angeles into a two-hour pedestrian paradise, closing off the urban core to vehicle traffic from about 5:30 p.m., just before the parade starts at about 6 p.m., until between 7:30 p.m. and 8 p.m., when the parade will end and streets will reopen.
Large portions of city byways, including Tumwater Truck Route, will be shut down, including the parade route that encircles the downtown core.
The new route begins at the float staging area on North Cedar Street, then begins its loop along Marine Drive to Front Street, heads left on Oak Street, turns right on Railroad Avenue, right on Laurel Street, right on First Street and finally left off South Valley Street, just across from where Marine Drive meets Front.
Anyone who parks inside the circle and does not leave by about 5:30 p.m. will not be able to get their vehicles out until the downtown closure is lifted at about 8 p.m.
“Downtown will pretty much be shut down,” Cody Romero, city street traffic supervisor, said after the meeting.
Parade floats that trundle that route will be potential moneymakers, capable of winning $2,900 in newly awarded cash prizes sponsored by Mister Buds Retail Marijuana Shop.
The fireworks display, funded with $11,000 by annual fireworks contributor Wave Broadband, includes an additional $3,000 this year from the Port of Port Angeles, adding muscle to this year’s display.
Personal-use fireworks are banned within city limits.
The legal display on July Fourth will be closer to holidaygoers than in recent years.
In past years, fireworks have been launched about 2 miles east of downtown at 9/11 Memorial Waterfront Park, formerly Francis Street Park.
But incendiary devices’ proximity to the Olympic Discovery Trail prompted the trail’s July Fourth closure year after year, cutting off viewers’ access to a shoreline that for miles offers prime fireworks-display vantage points.
This year, the trail will be open to Independence Day revelers, with 9/11 Memorial Waterfront Park out of the picture.
Instead, fireworks will be gingerly loaded onto a barge at the port’s Terminal 4 dock, closing for safety reasons nearby West End Park from about 9 a.m. until possibly about 2 p.m.
Then the barge will head out to anchor little more than three football fields away from spectacle-hungry crowds at City Pier.
Also featured during the day will be a Chevrolet display by Ruddell Auto Mall and numerous Kid’s Zone activities from noon to 5 p.m. at The Gateway transit center, including face painting, yoga, art mentoring and a bike helmet giveaway.
Craft vendors and food trucks also will be stationed at City Pier and on the closed-for-the-holiday Gateway transit center bus lanes next to the Kid’s Zone.
A beer and wine garden will open on City Pier at about 1 p.m.
The mantra for our country’s special day in America’s Northwest corner?
“Hot dogs, apple pie, Chevies and beer,” Abshire intoned at Tuesday’s meeting.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
