The flash of yellow seen from racing rubber ducks and the smell of hot dogs will return to the Plaza on July 4 for the Rotary Club of Healdsburg Sunrise’s annual 4th of July celebration. While there will be no fireworks this year, the free, small-town event will still have other fun activities for the whole family.
“We’re going to have lots of things for kids. Probably the highlight of the event is the kids parade. We encourage parents to bring their children in patriotic costumes, decorate their tricycles or wagons and we have a big parade that goes around the Plaza with local notables as judges awarding prizes for many different categories. That is always a lot of fun,” said Lance Cottrell, the event committee chair.
The event will run from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The beloved Duck Dash rash will also return this year. On the Rotary website and during the event, folks can adopt a rubber duck and watch it race to the splash zone in the Healdsburg Plaza fountain.
“Kids can decorate their ducks and run them in races down the track,” Cottrell said.
Other kid and family activities include trike, sack and bouncy ball races. There will also be a bean bag toss and other kid-friendly games. There will also be live music from the Healdsburg Community Band and Court ‘n’ Disaster.
Food offerings will include hotdogs, popcorn, Mexican street corn, snowcones and lemonade. All event food and activities will be free.
“I feel like it is going to be the grand reopening for the town, kind of an official flag that says that Healdsburg is back and it’s time for the community to come together again and really celebrate for the first time in a very long time,” Cottrell said.
T-shirts and ball caps will be for sale by the Rotary and donations will also be accepted. Donations will go toward the Rotary scholarship program, teacher appreciation and other programs such as Wonder League and Choices.
Despite the new mask guidelines from the state, Cottrell said event attendees will have to wear a mask since event organizers will not be checking whether each attendee is vaccinated.
“We are asking people to wear masks. I think it will make the attendees in general feel more comfortable and we realize there are people who are not yet vaccinated or cannot be vaccinated because they are immunocompromised. To make this as inclusive as we can, we are asking everyone to wear masks,” Cottrell said.
Funding for the event
“We really see this as a gift that our club can give to the community, which is why it’s not a fundraiser. We’ve had amazing support from sponsors and we have numerous corporate sponsors that have both done cash donations as well as in-kind donations to the club to allow us to put this on,” Cottrell said.
He said the Healdsburg Chamber of Commerce and the Healdsburg Tourism Improvement District have also made a generous grant to the club to help pay for food and rental equipment. The actual event will be run by Rotary and community volunteers.
“It will be really great to get out and celebrate as a community, wow, it has been a long time,” Cottrell said.
