July 4 activities planned

    It's time again for Dodge City's Fourth of July Celebration. The festivities will start at 7 p.m. today at the Band Shell in Wright Park. The first 300 guests will enjoy free ice cream courtesy of Hiland Dairy & Mr. Good Bean Coffee.
    At 7:15, VFW Post 1714 will present the colors. Then at 7:30 p.m., featured artist Bob Salm will start the evening off with patriotic selections.  He will be followed by the Cowboy Band with featured vocalist Charles Turley taking the stage at 8 p.m. The show in Wright Park will end by 9 to give everyone an opportunity to head north to watch the highlight of the evening, the fireworks extravaganza!
    Memorial Stadium's south gate will open at 9 for those wishing to view the fireworks from there. Parking is available at Memorial Stadium as well as the Civic Center. A reminder that shooting personal fireworks on public property is not permitted, and the Police Department and Citizens Auxiliary will be on hand to enforce that ban in both locations.
    This $25,000 show is the largest display of fireworks in western Kansas.  The display will again be supplied by Wald's All American Fireworks of Greenwood Mo., with Jerry Menges, our fireworks contractor from Ellinwood.  Choreographed to music, the show will be electronically fired and will once again include the giant 10-inch shells that fly 1,170 feet into the air and top out at 1,600 feet.
    Turn your radios on and listen to the music on Q97 FM (97.3 FM), which will broadcast the music the night of the show. Countdown to blast off will begin at 10 p.m. In the event of bad weather, the fireworks will be shot off on the next clear night.
    To ensure safety and help organizers prepare for the show, Morgan Boulevard will be closed from First to Sixth Avenues until after the show today. The parking lots at Soule Intermediate School, Northwest Elementary and both the middle school lots will be barricaded the evening of the show.  The municipal pool lot will be closed off as soon as the pool closes for the day on the 4th, at about 5 p.m.
    Event sponsors include the city of Dodge City; Cargill Beef; Dodge City Festivals; Victory Electric; Aquila; Dodge City Convention & Visitors Bureau; Village Square Mall; Dodge City Area Chamber of Commerce; Dodge City/Ford County Economic Development; National Beef; OMI; Smoll & Banning, CPA LLC; United Wireless Communications; AMBUCS; Diamond Roofing; Dodge City Medical Center; Fidelity State Bank; Frigon Law Firm; Pos-T-Vac; Williams, Malone and Ralph, PA; C & S Medical; John's Body Shop; Key Office; Maupins Truck Parts; Overhead Door/A-1 Glass; Wessell Iron & Supply; Western Plains Medical Complex; Winter Livestock; Bradley Astleford; Comanche Beverage Outlet; Dodge City Credit Union; Hester & Virginia Pennington; Kitchens Inc.; Legends Printing; Kirby Meat; Parker Haskins Insurance; Roto-Mix; Terry Rabe CPA; Roger & Sue Ann DeVoss; Hamilton Trust; Arrowhead West; Jack & Janol Lee Dalton; Jim & Nancy Sherer; Anna Johnson; and Robert and JoAnn Ripley.  In-kind donations include the Citizens Police Auxiliary, Hiland Dairy, Mr. Goodbean, The Depot Theater Company, USD 443, Victory Electric and Western Kansas Radio/Q97 FM.
    Keep Dodge City Beautiful will be out Saturday morning to clean up the fallout from the fireworks display. If anyone would like to help with the clean-up effort, workers will meet at the Middle School front parking lot at 7 a.m. Show your appreciation of this free event by helping with the litter control effort.