Military fly over to start Independence Day parade

Bigfork’s annual Fourth of July celebration is scheduled to bring a 5k run, a children’s carnival, patriotic music from both clock and man, a military jet fly over, a large Fourth of July parade and a rubber ducky race down the Wild Mile to the streets of Bigfork.

The second annual Freedom 5k run/walk hosted by Grateful Nation will start from Brookie’s Cookies in downtown Bigfork at 8:30 a.m. Registration starts at 7:30 a.m. The course takes runners and walkers from Brookie’s Cookies up the Swan River Nature Trail and back.

The children’s carnival will take place at the Bigfork fire hall and up until the parade starts, Bigfork’s new clock tower will play patriotic tunes on the hour.

At 11 a.m. the 50 member Flathead Valley Community Band will begin playing their brand of instrumental patriotic music and band marches.

The community band has played every year for as long as Bigfork Chamber of Commerce president Bruce Solberg can remember, except for last year. Last year, the Fourth of July was too hot, and because many of the community band members are older, the band opted not to play.

As of Monday, this year’s Fourth of July weather is predicted to be sunny with a high of 72 degrees and zero percent chance of precipitation.

Two F-15C fighter jets from the 120th Fighter Wing in Great Falls will hit the town of Bigfork with the sound of their engines between 11:40 a.m. and 12:10 p.m.

Solberg said the jets are scheduled to fly over 10 towns in an hour for the Fourth, so the timing is not an exact science.

Last year was the only other year Bigfork has had jets fly over town, and Solberg said it’s a quick trip if you’re not paying attention.

“They flew over so fast last year, you could still hear them after they left, but if you weren’t looking up (you missed them),” Solberg said. “They just screamed by.”

Bigfork resident Kim Jones was an instrumental part of getting the military jets scheduled both this year and last, in fact Solberg said Jones is instrumental with everything that goes on with the military.

She is heavily involved with the adopt-a-soldier program and organizes the Fourth of July Parade so all the servicemen and women can help kick-off the parade at the front of the line-up.

The parade heads down Electric Avenue toward the one-lane bridge starting at noon. Last year’s parade was one hour and 20 minutes long.

“We’ve asked everybody to please have a patriotic theme if you’re going to participate in the parade,” Solberg said. “Last year we had a lot of businesses participate in their company rigs.”

The Bigfork fire trucks and the VFW color guard usually kick-start the parade and it generally ends with the Flathead Lake Lodge fire trucks, but it all depends on how everyone gets lined up before the parade. The line-up starts on Commerce Street.

There will be no parking on Electric Avenue starting at 9 a.m. and no traffic allowed downtown once the parade starts.

Ducks for Bucks ends the daytime activities with a rubber ducky race down the Swan River at 4 p.m. Ducks are sold for $5 a piece or 6 ducks for $25 prior to the race. The ducks will be avaiable at the Jug Tree and Her Alibi Salon.

Proceeds from the race benefit two Bigfork High School student scholarships. Last year’s scholarship recipients were Ian Lorang and Sara Keenan, each received $250 dollars.

Two people on jet skis with nets scoop up the rubber ducks as they come into the Bigfork Bay. First-place wins $200, second-place wins $100 and third takes home $50.

The remainder of the proceeds pay for Fourth of July expenses around town, such as Porta-Potties.

Fireworks can be seen over Flathead Lake as night falls, after 10 p.m., for almost anywhere in Bigfork but downtown. Solberg said the high school’s football field is a popular spot to watch them.

While Bigfork doesn’t sponsor a fireworks show anymore, the Flathead Lake Lodge will have a fireworks show and the Lakeside Chamber of Commerce sponsors a show that starts at 11 p.m.

“Bigfork used to sponsor a fireworks show, but it just got to be too much liability and too expensive. There’s so much going on anyway,” Solberg said. “The sky is just lit up with fireworks.”