Brian Hagberg
WARREN, Pa. – One of Warren County’s biggest events of the summer keeps getting bigger as the annual 4th of July celebration will take place from July 1 – 4 this year.
Most of the festivities will be taking place at Betts Park, with the notable exception of the 75th annual Warren 4th of July Parade which will begin at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, July 4.
“I feel it’s more of a building a production, putting together a really good show,” Warren 4th of July Celebration Chairman Bill Thompson said during a recent appearance on Your Daily Local’s Coffee & a Conversation. “And this year’s show gonna be a four-day event.”
The celebration gets underway on Saturday, July 1 at Betts Park with the Food Truck Festival and Craft Fair which will be open from 1 – 10 p.m. There will also be a Fireman’s Battle at 1 p.m. and the first round of Warren’s Got Talent Drop the Mic 2.0 from 1 – 4 p.m.
“We’ve got quite a few fire departments involved with this (looking for) a lot of bragging rights,” Thompson said. “And then something we brought back, is Warren’s Got Talent. It was very popular last year. And so we brought that back.”
The day will end with a live performance by local artists Echoes on Water from 7 – 10 p.m.
On Sunday, the Food Truck Festival and Craft Fair will be open from 1 – 10 p.m. There will also be a Car Cruise-In from 1 – 5 p.m. and the Warren’s Got Talent Finals will be from 2 – 5 p.m. Other activities throughout the day will include a Kids’ Zone, Face Painting, and a Petting Zoo. Porcelain Bus Drivers will take the stage from 7 – 10 p.m.
The Food Truck Festival and Craft Fair will be back on Monday from 1 – 10 p.m. The Cutest Baby Contest, for those kids 6 months and younger, will be held at 4 p.m. with registration beginning at 3:30 p.m. The Double C Ranch will be offering carriage rides from 4 – 8 p.m. and Night Shift will close out the night with a musical performance from 7 – 10 p.m.
The 4th of July itself will begin with the pre-parade show reviewing stand at 10:30 a.m. The 75th annual Warren 4th of July Parade will begin at 11 a.m., with a new route this year due to roundabout construction.
“The other thing I want to mention, too, is, and I’m very proud of this, that we’re like the third or fourth-largest Fourth of July parade in Pennsylvania. With Cannonsburg being number one,” Thompson said. “I think that’s why, a lot of people come back to Warren over the Fourth of July weekend.”
The festivities will move back to Betts Park following the parade with the Food Truck Festival and Craft Fair. Double C Ranch will again be providing carriage rides from 4 – 8 p.m. Blue Morning will take the stage from 7 – 10 p.m. and the celebration will close with the annual fireworks display at 10 p.m.
