Schedule of July 4thEvents in Park City
7:00am Pancake Breakfast in City Park
8:00am Cole Sport 5k Mountain Fun Run
10:00am – 4:30pm Rugby games, live music, Rotary BBQ at the north end of City Park.
11:00am Parade on Historic Main Street
12:00pm – 4:30pm Celebration in City Park. Food, live music, beer garden, children’s activities
5:30pm – 9:30pm Beer garden and BBQ at Park City Mountain
7:00pm – 9:30pm Free concert at Park City Mountain
Dusk Fireworks go off at Park City Mountain
The 4thof July is one of the biggest summer celebrations in Park City. The social events run from sunup to well past sundown. This is the day we celebrate our independence from Great Britain by blowing stuff up, offering significant discounts on mattresses, and eating as much grilled meat as possible. Unlike many of our other holidays, this one took off right out of the gate. We’ve compiled a list of 5 fun facts about the holiday that we thought you’d find noteworthy.
1.The traditions haven’t changed much in 226 years.
In 1776 our founders wrote an eloquent Declaration of Independence to King George telling him what he could do with his taxation without representation. Just one year later, the first Independence Day celebration was held in Philadelphia, complete with parade and fireworks. The tradition quickly spread to every region of the Union. Cannon salutes and huge bonfires were also popular in the beginning, but have understandably lost the public safety arguments on many levels.
2. The Stars and Stripes.
American flags have changed along with the country. Each time a new state was admitted to the union, the layout of the stars changed. During the first few years of the nation’s existence, it didn’t have one official flag, rather a number of similar looking red, white, and blue designs were used. Since 1818, July 4th has been designated as the date on which the American flag is “updated”. The current 50-star flag was designed by an Ohio high school student and has been the official flag of the country since July 4, 1960.
3. Uncle Sam gives us the day off
For most American people, the 4th of July is a beautiful summer day off from work, but it wasn’t always that way. In fact, in 1870, Congress made Independence Day an official unpaid national holiday. It wasn’t until 1938 that Congress made the 4th of July an official paid federal holiday. They threw in Thanksgiving and Christmas at the same time.
4. Eat, drink, and be merry.
Americans also celebrate the 4thof July by eating and drinking copious amounts. On July 4, 1778, George Washington ordered a double ration of rum for his soldiers to celebrate the holiday. This year it’s estimated that Americans will consume around 155 million hot dogs, spend $92 million on chips, $167.5 million on watermelon, and $341.4 million on beer. What many consider to be the greatest sports spectacle in the world takes place each July 4th– Nathan’s Famous Hotdog Eating Contest. The current world record is 68 dogs plus buns (about 28,000 calories) in 10 minutes. Catch the live ESPN coverage at 10:00am MST on July 4th.
5. Oh, how we’ve grown!
During the first July 4th Celebrations, the population of the U.S. was close to 2.5 million. Today we’ve grown to nearly 320 million. It looks like a good idea in 1776 really caught on and took the world by storm!
We at Chin-MacQuoid-Fleming-Harris will all be out and about this July 4th. We hope to see you in City Park or on Main Street taking in all small-town atmosphere Park City offers up. Please be sure to stop and say hello!
