Paradise hosts Independence Day fun

PARADISE- Wood saws cut through lumber, tomahawks flew through the air and fireworks filled the sky as Paradise celebrated the Fourth of July in style throughout the day on Friday.

The annual Independence Day celebration took place on the greenway in Paradise Park, featuring a parade, lunch, kids games and fireworks once dusk fell on the patriotic holiday.

Festivities also included involvement by Post 129 of the American Legion, which was up and running with a tent and beer garden on the site of the former Legion Post for the duration of the festivities.

Local members of the post and the ladies auxiliary provided a large portion of the food, available free of charge to those in attendance at the town’s park.

“The hot dogs and hamburgers were provided by the legion,” Shirley King, who served as flag bearer during the parade and helped organize some of the day’s activities, said.

King added community members provided the side dishes and desserts for the potluck style picnic.

There was a very strong turnout for the event, with residents of Sanders County joined by those passing through on Highway 200.

Several vehicles including a group of motorcyclists stopped in and checked out the celebration in Paradise before continuing on their way.

The event was so well attended, organizers had to make an afternoon run to the grocery store in order to resupply their stocks of hamburger buns and paper plates.

A swap meet was set up in the morning and featured a wide array of items, from used goods to homemade jams.

Celebratory events were officially kicked off by the town parade. The procession featured children from the area dressed for the occasion, the old Plains fire truck, vintage automobiles and buckskin clad, Jonie Thompson and his horse Sundance Cree.

Following a break for lunch the kids games got underway. One event featured was the hay bale search.

In this contest, children of all ages shifted through clumps of hay, in hopes of finding loose change spread throughout the pile by helpful adults.

A few rounds of these search missions were held with parents standing ready to hold on to the change their children discovered under the hay.

Later in the day children were also able to partake in a tomahawk-throwing contest, where their accuracy was put to the test as they learned a new and unique skill.

“The kids games were really well attended this year,” King said.

The kids weren’t the only ones having fun throughout the day as adults too got a taste of competition.

In a series of lumberjack style sawing competitions complete with protective chaps, teams of two worked to cut through a log, using a long two handled traditional saw.

Some struggled to find their timing, while others worked well together and had a few laughs during the contest.

Over the course of the day visitors milled around the park grounds, strategically placing their chairs in shady spots to get out of the sun.

The temporary reopening created a good deal of excitement among the crowd and many ventured over and conversed with those tending the bar.

Late in the day, shortly after sunset, once the lighting was suitable, fireworks were launched from Paradise.

A 50/50 raffle was used to finance the evening fireworks show in Paradise.

The town display was joined by similar celebrations in Plains and Hot Springs, which could be seen and heard in the distant creating quite a festive scene as the Fourth of July drew to a close.