Story and photo submitted by Katrina Trahan
The City of Prescott held its Fourth of July celebration at Pioneer Park.
The City used all four park fields, meaning families were never short of things to do — bouncy houses, water slides, a train, all types of games and a bull riding machine. Even the parents could get in on the fun.
The first activity was pretty hands-on for the City staff. Three of those running the event loaded and fired T-shirts at the audience. Though the T-shirt cannon was great for long distance shooting, they threw the shirts in the general audience.
Then came the hot dog eating contest. There were eight contestants. Some seasoned vets, some younger competitors and a few last-minute entries. No one shied away from this contest, not even the audience. The competition was rough and rowdy, with hot dog crumbs and water flying everywhere. Joshua Wilkerson may have been the winner, but the young contestant, Jonathan Kroff, stole the show.
Mary Sannapu recited the Declaration of Independence after the contest. Her following speech described the grit and sacrifices that went into making our Founding Fathers’ dream a reality.
After some more live music and dancing, the JROTC announced the winners of a raffle. Many prizes were given out, but Kate Ames was the most excited about her new camping package.
The band, Ponderosa Grove, always found ways to keep the audience entertained. They interacted with the younger audience members giving them high-fives for their enthusiastic dance moves. Everyone joined in as the sun went down.
Then there were fireworks. They started at 9 p.m. and lasted about 20 minutes. Everyone cheered at the fire in the sky. It was never dark for more than 10 seconds.
