4th of July in Mccarthy

Where should we go for the 4th of July? That’s the question we usually start tossing around sometime in June.  And, while I’ve only experienced the 4th in Bethel, McCarthy & Seldovia, the Independence Day celebrations in McCarthy are so homespun, simple, and festive that we returned for our 3rd 4th of July celebration last year.

We recruited our neighbors, the Jensen’s, to join us for the experience.

IMG_8016

Anything (really anything) goes in McCarthy for the 4th. You see your usual red white and blue attire, kids dressed up as pickles or running around naked, and even a few adults a little less than half dressed in the parade.

I had spent Atlee’s nap time on the day before the 4th wandering through the wild yard where we were staying foraging flowers and grasses and perfecting the art of making flower crowns. On the morning of the fourth, I did a mini-tutorial for our group, and we all sported our new creations. Nothing like a flower crown to make you feel festive and special.

fullsizeoutput_588f

Heidi and Baby Malin model their crowns.

 

fullsizeoutput_58a0

This year we continued our tradition of not waking up in time to make it to the pancake feed, but you should know every year there is a pancake feed with the proceeds going to the local museum, which celebrated their 150th anniversary last year.

The crowd has definitely grown from 4 years ago when I first came.

IMG_8037

The parade begins.

IMG_8039

The McCarthy Marching Band.

Before the 4th, we saw signs inviting anyone who wanted to be a part of the band to come to band practice on the 3rd. Its all very official 😉

IMG_8040

IMG_8042

IMG_8044

Our friend Martin recently bought two of the main flight operations in McCarthy. He teamed up with the gentlemen whose businesses he had bought to bring the “reTIRED Pilot Island” float (if you can call it that) to this year’s parade.

IMG_8046

IMG_8048

My favorite restaurant in town, The Potato, joined in the fun as well.

IMG_8049

As did the local hotels,

IMG_8052

IMG_8054

and the guide companies.

IMG_8055

The local EMS looks like they could use a little help themselves.

IMG_8060

There was even a surprise appearance by Smokey the Bear.

 

IMG_8062

The parade is short, so it goes through town twice.

IMG_8073

Just as good as the parade are the games that follow. There’s the cherry spitting contest, the paper airplane contest, the egg toss, the pie eating contest, the slow bike race, and the carry-a-piece-of-ice-on-a-spoon race, pictured below.

IMG_8074

IMG_8075

IMG_8093

Heidi and Thomas’s son Lucas was the token half-naked child running around in the puddles this year.

fullsizeoutput_58bb

There’s usually live music around town during the day and in the bars at night; however, by 4 pm our kids were exhausted, so we headed back to the house.

McCarthy did not disappoint — another fun McCarthy 4th for the books!

fullsizeoutput_5849