OTHELLO — The Greater Othello Chamber of Commerce will kick off its annual Independence Day celebration July 4 at 10 a.m. with a parade down Main Street before moving to Lions Park for an all-day celebration culminating in a fireworks display.

Chamber Manager Jackie Wilhelm outlined what to expect.

“For the most part, it's very similar, but we are bringing new activities,” she said. “So a three-on-three basketball tournament … that's new, and I'm excited about that because then we'll get to use the newly improved and redone basketball courts.”

Also new this year will be a five versus five youth soccer tournament.

“Othello United (Football Club) is going to be hosting a soccer tournament at Hiawatha (Elementary),” Wilhelm said. “They already have the space and the goals and everything, so they will be our hosts for the tournament.”

Returning this year are the volleyball tournament and the beanbag toss tournaments, Wilhelm said. She said the cornhole competition was a big hit during last year’s celebration. This will also be the fourth annual July 4 car show, which will begin at 11 a.m.

Entertainment and performances will look a bit different this year, Wilhelm said.
“We are bringing two new bands, so we switched that up,” she said. “We have Fallout, a band out of Tri-Cities, and then we have Paso Firme, and I believe they're from Royal City, so they will be our bands for the day.”

Local performers will also go onstage at 2 p.m., Wilhelm said. Prior to that, at noon, will be the flag-raising ceremony.

“Last year we did it and it went really well,” she said. “It was probably one of my favorite things that we did … with someone singing the national anthem and then a prayer, and then we had (The Veterans of Foreign Wars) and the police and fire department, so we’re doing something similar to that this year.”

A section of the park will be devoted to a kids zone.
“We'll have our bouncy houses and then we will do the pie-eating contest and probably a few other activities like that … they'll probably go on for a couple of hours,” she said. “We'll have a dunk tank probably by our kids zone. We will be charging for that. We're partnering with the police department and we're going to split the profits and half of it will go to Shop with a Cop.”

Also new this year is a talent show for all ages in the afternoon. 

“It can be music. It could be singing, dancing, magic tricks, jokes - I mean,  whatever, as long as it's family-friendly,” she said. “I know that in the Tri-Cities they did a lip sync battle, and I was like, ‘That would be so cool.’ But with the budget this year, we don't really have a lot of money to splurge on entertainment, so I was like, ‘How about we look for some local talents.’”

Wilhelm said this year’s budget is tighter for the celebration. The chamber is a nonprofit that is primarily funded by sponsors and fundraising. She said the chamber usually breaks even on the event, but is worried they might actually lose money this year.

“There's the number that we stick to every year, what we roughly spend, but this year we have to pay fees to the city for hosting. That's new,” she said. “That's a huge chunk of money that we've never had to pay and so we didn't anticipate that.”

The council approved the chamber’s facility use agreement for the July 4 event Monday evening during the regular meeting. According to the agenda memo, the chamber’s requests for the event included the use of tables, garbage cans, dumpsters, portable toilets, hand wash stations and city staff, resulting in about $5,900 in fees and a $500 damage deposit.

In previous years and for other more recent chamber events, the council has often waived the event fees entirely, but now the council has created a specific policy to address event fees for nonprofits. 

Wilhelm said she feels like the July 4 celebration is different from any other event in Othello. 

“Yes, it's a chamber event, but at the same time this is the biggest event in Othello,” she said. “We're a non-profit, there's only so much we can do.”

For more event details and registration information, visit the Greater Othello Chamber of Commerce’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/othellochamber. Vendor applications are due Friday. 

    The 2023 July 4 Car Show in Lions Park showcased a variety of vehicles for attendees to look at. Twenty-five trophies were awarded in total. This year’s car show will begin at 11 a.m. July 4.
  

    Veterans march at the head of a long line of 2023 Othello Independence Day parade entrants, leading the procession down Main Street. This year’s parade is still taking registrants and will start at 10 a.m. July 4.