By Jacob Clemens

For the Sidney Daily News

NEW KNOXVILLE — The New Knoxville Independence Day Celebration is returning this year for another weekend of patriotic fun.

The celebration kicks off at the New Knoxville Community Park at 5 p.m. on Friday, June 23, when food and beverages will begin being served. Kid’s inflatables as well as the temptatious cake wheel will also open at the same time.

The Car Cruise-In will sit at its usual spot on the soccer pitch this year, running from 5 to 8 p.m., and Wapakoneta-based cover band Fairly Local will headline the first night of festivities with a performance, beginning at 8 p.m. and running until midnight.

Day 2 of the festivities will take place the next day on Saturday, June 24. The inflatables and cake wheel will open at 10 a.m., and food/beverages will begin being served at 11 a.m.

Attendees can expect a wide range of activities throughout the day, starting with the Little Miss Firecracker Pageant at 10 a.m., where New Knoxville kindergarteners and first graders will participate in a group performance.

The sporting type will look forward to an array of competitions beginning with the volleyball tournament starting at 11 a.m., a cornhole tournament at 1 p.m., as well as a showcase of New Knoxville’s youth baseball talent when local 3rd and 4th graders from the area take part in an exhibition of America’s Pastime.

Of course, a celebration of our independence deserves more than just a single game of baseball. At 3 p.m., fifth-and sixth-grade girls softball players from the area will take part in their own game of softball. Later on, at 5 p.m., local boys baseball players of the same age group will compete in a game as well.

The Golf Cart Parade, a newer event that has been gaining steam over the past several years, will return, starting at noon with the same open theme for cart decoration as last year. Also the same as last year is the parade route, which will run from the American Legion, down Mill Street, and will end at the park.

The local fire department will host a few events themselves, including the traditional “Touch a Truck” from 1-3 p.m., and a demonstration for children at 2 p.m.

Alongside the food and beverage vendors, there will be a barbecue chicken dinner served from 4-6 p.m. A meal can also be purchased from a Hoge Street pick-up location during the same time period.

From 8 p.m. to midnight, live music will be provided by the Shifferly Road Band, a Bluffton-based cover band that performs a range of modern country, blues, classic rock and pop hits.

At 9:30 p.m., the annual 5K will begin at Neil Armstrong Airport. This year’s theme is listed as “Fly Me to the Moon: TOP RUN.”

Ending the night will be the color guard ceremony, performed by local American Legion Post 444, and the singing of our national anthem for all to participate in. At 10:30 p.m., the fireworks display will begin.

At 11 p.m., raffle prizes for the 50/50 and club drawings will be given out at the park shelter house.

A full schedule of the weekend’s events can be found at https://nkjuly4.com/schedule/.