Fourth of July festivities in the Flathead

The Fourth of July falls on a Wednesday this year, right in the middle of the week, which could affect all those workers hoping for a three-day weekend. For those with only one day off, there’s still plenty to do:

• Bigfork’s annual downtown parade will start at noon, followed by a children’s carnival, and the Ducks for Bucks race for the Wild Mile starting at 4 p.m. For more information, call 837-5888. The second annual Freedom 5K Run/Walk will start at Brookies Cookie with registration at 7:30 a.m. and the race beginning at 8:30 a.m. For more information, call 240-9278.

• A big fireworks display is set off from a barge in Lakeside Bay on Flathead Lake beginning about 11 p.m.

• Kalispell’s annual downtown parade will start at 10 a.m. followed by a memorial ceremony at Depot Park, the annual Conrad Mansion ice cream social and a flyover by two F-15C jets from the 120th Fighter Wing in Great Falls. For more information, call 758-2800.

• The typically outrageous Polebridge parade up the North Fork will start at noon. The Northern Lights Saloon will have an outdoor barbecue, and the Spring Wagon String Band will play outside in the afternoon after the parade ends and again in the evening. The event draws 1,000 to 2,000 people. No fireworks is allowed. For more information, call 888-9963.

• In Whitefish, the Montana Band will bring their 25th anniversary tribute tour to the Great Northern Veterans Peace Park for a free concert with country, rock and bluegrass music. House of Quist will open the show at 5 p.m., with Moonshine Mountain taking the stage at 6:45 p.m. and the Montana Band closing the show beginning at 8:30 p.m. The park is located behind the Whitefish Cemetery off U.S. 93 west of town. The big fireworks display at City Beach will start at 10 p.m. For more information, call 862-3501.

• Fireworks are illegal inside the city limits of Columbia Falls.