Celebrate Independence Day, Carnation-style: Festivities start Monday with library celebration, spaghetti feed, plus a parade, music, cars, games and food for the Fourth

It’s time for the Great Carnation Fourth of July celebration, stretching throughout the small town of Carnation, from the Tolt Commons Park on Bird Street, down to Tolt-MacDonald Park and the big fireworks finale at the end of the fun-filled day.

The event is a traditional home town celebration with something for every appetite and all ages and this year, it’s so big it covers two days.

Monday, on the eve of the celebration, the Sno-Valley Senior Center will host its traditional spaghetti feed, from 5 to 7 p.m. Earlier in the day, the Carnation Library will be celebrating its own 93rd birthday, with a historic toy-building workshop, (2 to 3:30 p.m.) plus cupcake decorating, raffles and sidewalk chalk coloring at 4 p.m.

Get up early Tuesday for pancakes at the Tolt Congregational Church (8 a.m.) or Run for the Pies, the Carnation 5K race with prizes of Remlinger Farms pies, (8:30 a.m.).

Feast on strawberry shortcake at the Sno-Valley Senior Center before or after the parade — your choice, they’re serving from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Don’t miss the Kiddie Parade on Tolt Avenue at 10:30 a.m., then get to Tolt Commons for the Scouts’ flag raising and singing of the national anthem.

The Grand Parade starts at 11 a.m. and will feature the crowd-pleasing West Coast Country Heat Dancers as well as Ixtapa’s famous dancing horses.

Both will perform at the Parade Stage after the parade. Parade judges will be from the Riverview Schools committee.

For afternoon entertainment, there are three stages of live music, plus theater, kids bounce houses, and the car show, in a new location this year, just off Tolt Avenue on W Commercial Street.

Over at Tolt MacDonald Park, the Just Moo It! basketball tournament will take over the paved parking lot, in anticipation of the same numbers as last year. The larger paved area will allow more teams to play at the same time, to keep the tournament moving along.

“We tripled in size,” in the week before the tournament, Carnation Fourth chairperson Kim Lisk said last week. “But it’s a good problem to have, right?”

Music in the park starts with Jack Ballard at 12:30 and finishes up with Beatles tribute band Abbey Road. Then it’s time for the fireworks finale, put on as always, by the usual pyrotechnicians from Western Fireworks Display.

“I think that’s one of the reasons our show is so great,” Lisk said. “They do it every year and they know how to change it up… Ever year, people walk out of that park saying ‘That was the best show yet.’ Every year.”

Organizers of the festival include Nicole Pitts, Denise Crutchfield, Sydney Lisk, Kevin Crutchfield, Theresa Tenney, Shelby Winston, Amy Hammontree, Alan Hansen, Gibson Lisk, Morgan Henley and Gena Ragsdale. Lisk noted that the festival wouldn’t be possible without the hard work of the city of Carnation’s Public Works crew.

“They spend hours before the Fourth cleaning up the city and they’re there for whatever we need. They’re really my right-hand men on the Fourth of July,” she said, then added with a laugh, “or maybe I’m their right-hand man, I’m not really sure!”