JAY — The tri-town area will celebrate the country’s independence with a bang, good music, tasty food, some history and a colorful parade Saturday, July 3.

The parade steps off at 5 p.m. at MEMCO on Main Street in Jay, with lineup beginning at 3 p.m. The parade will go down Main Street, also known as Route 4, to downtown Livermore Falls and stopping at Ware-Butler Inc. on Depot Street.

Among the highlights are the Shriners’ mini-cars and school bus, Cartoon Funsters, fire trucks, singer Barry Wood and the Sandy River Car Train pulled behind a four-wheeler.

The fire departments will use ladder trucks to create an arch by St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church for the parade to pass under, Tri-town 4th of July Parade Committee Chairwoman Barbara Cook said.

There will be at least eight floats.

“We’ll have the American Legion Color Guard marching and the VFW Color Guard riding,” Cook said.

Parade Marshal is World War II veteran Charles Stenger, 90, of Farmington and formerly of Jay, and he’ll be riding in a vehicle, she said.

There will be vendors and a dunk tank along Main Street as well.

During the day, tours of the Washburn-Norlands Living History Center on Norlands Road in Livermore will be available from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.  The mansion will be open and a brochure will be provided for visitors to take a self-guided tour of the schoolhouse and meetinghouse. The library won’t be open.  Admission is $8.50 for adults, $4.50 for children under 12. For more information log onto www.norlands.org.

The VFW Post 3335 on Jewell Street and Route 133 in Jay will hold a chicken barbecue at 4 p.m. The cost is $7. There are a limited number of tickets available for the chicken meal with all the trimmings, VFW Commander John Judd said. To get a ticket call 897-5112.

The Friday Night Crew will perform at the VFW hall, Cook said.

The musical group Silver and Gold will perform from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the Livermore Falls Gazebo behind the municipal building.

And at dusk the sky will light up above the towns with fireworks from Spruce Mountain in Jay.

There will also be fireworks at 10 p.m. at the Barnyard All-Terrain Park on Route 108, also known as Boothby Road, in Livermore in appreciation of the residents of Livermore, an owner, David Lovewell said. There will be off-road parking available at the site, which is about a quarter-mile from Route 219 in Turner.

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