The heat won’t stop the Fourth of July or all the events planned downtown to celebrate the day.
For the first time in three years, Firecracker Fandango is returning to downtown Odessa.
Last year and the year before saw the event cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic but this Fourth of July will see a return to normal for those eager to watch fireworks.
Both Odessa and Midland will be holding downtown celebrations on July 2.
Firecracker Fandango in Odessa will last from 6-10 p.m. and Midland’s Star-Spangled Salute will go from 9 a.m.-10 p.m.
Firecracker Fandango will take place in downtown Odessa and is free.
“We’re just so excited,” Downtown Odessa Director Casey Hallmark said. “We’re really eager to have this event. It’s completely free to the public and we’re just fortunate to host this and have it be free and hopefully have a good turnout.”
Firecracker Fandango will feature a variety of 15 food trucks as well as alcoholic vendors and over 25 local market vendors as well as a car show, circus performers, face painting and performances by Rick Trevino and Tommy Tarango.
Battle of the Bands will also be going on at The Ector Theatre at 6 p.m. which will be a $5 admission to anyone older than 12.
“We’ll have the main stage music with Tommy Tarango opening up for Rick Trevino,” Hallmark said. “We have a completely separate children’s area so we have segregated that area to increase size. We have a circus performing group from Oklahoma. We have stilt walkers and unicyclists. We have some local face painters and balloon artists coming out.”
Hallmark said that the local animal shelter will also be out with adoptable pets and the Ellen Noël Art Museum will also be in downtown Odessa with a free children’s craft.
“We have homemade wines and chuck wagon gangs,” Hallmark said. “They’ll have their alcohol vendors out. We’ll have several different bars set up. We’ll have main event on air that will bring seven different jumpers. We’ll have an entire area filled with jumpers. We’ll have rock climbing walls. We’ll have a car show. We have over 30 vendors signed up to be a part of our vendor market. There are lots happening.”
The car show, which will be put on by Sean and Jamie Rodriguez, will also feature prizes.
“We weren’t originally going to have prizes at the car show but when Sean and Jamie Rodriguez heard that, they knew it wasn’t going to work so they stepped up and took the car show to the next level,” Hallmark said.
Hallmark said it’s always a great opportunity when an event this big can be put on and be free to the public.
“It’s a cool opportunity,” Hallmark said. “It’s rare when you can have a free event and because of our awesome sponsors and the city of Odessa, we’re able to put this event on completely free. To have a family-friendly event is great.”
The event will be complete with a 15-minute firework show. The firework show will take place at the corner of Grant and Second street and will start at 9:45 p.m.
“This is the first time that we’ve been able to have fireworks downtown,” Hallmark said. “We’ve worked pretty hard with the city to get the fireworks downtown. There was a lot of logistics and we finally were able to make it happen.”
Hallmark said that the fireworks show will be choreographed.
“We’ll be playing the soundtrack and then we’ll be having the fireworks match up to it,” Hallmark said. “We’re pretty excited about that as well.”
Hallmark is hopeful for a big turnout.
“We encourage the public to come out,” Hallmark said. “The way we get to keep these events free is to show that the public enjoys the shows so in order for us to go to the city and ask for money and sponsors is to create an event where there’s a lot of people attending. We need the people to show up and have a great time and show everyone that it’s worth it to put this event on.”
STAR-SPANGLED SALUTE
In the Tall City, Midland’s Star-Spangled Salute will feature numerous events downtown at Centennial Park.
The day-long event will start with the 59th Annual Children’s Sidewalk Parade and then close with fireworks at the end of the day.
“We’ll be having some of our usual festivities including the Children’s Sidewalk Parade to kick off the morning,” Vice President of Chamber Relations in Midland Christine Dooley said. “There will be food vendors as well as some business vendors. In the evening we’ll have a fun zone for the children from 7-9 p.m. which includes jumpers and other fun activities for them. There will also be live music in the park which starts at 7 p.m. and run until 10 p.m. with the firework show.”
The firework show will also last about 10-15 minutes.
Star-Spangled Salute was not held in 2020 due to COVID but made a return last summer.
“Last year was our first year back downtown,” Dooley said. “It went pretty well. We’re going to keep things pretty much the same. The Bush Convention Center, we utilized last year (but) it’s still closed for maintenance and repairs this year. That building will not be open so we’ll have more things around the park and then also, we’ve moved the location of the fireworks. Those will now be launched from the roof of the Bush Convention Center.”
The Star-Spangled Salute will also include live entertainment with local bands performing. Those bands will include the Broken Toads, Eric Logan and the AKA Band and Current Nine.
Dooley said The Broken Toads will go first at 7 p.m., followed by Eric Logan and the AKA Band at 8 and then Current Nine will close out before the fireworks.
The event will also be free to the public.
“We really love hosting this event,” Dooley said. “Our favorite thing about it is that it’s completely free to the community because of the generosity of our business members. It’s completely funded by the partnership we have with the city, the county and the businesses that sponsor the event. That allows us to keep it completely free. We love that because we get to see all kinds of people from all over town come out and enjoy a day of celebration together.”
WILD WEST ROUND UP
Also occurring in downtown Midland on July 2 alongside Star-Spangled Salute will be an event called Wild West Roundup.
The event will take place from noon-11 p.m. over at the Midland Charms building, located at 401 W. Texas Ave and will feature western music along with cowboy comedy that will be family-friendly.
The event is put on by former Midlander and Midland High graduate Shelby Bond of Best Medicine Productions.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve lived there,” Bond said, who now resides in Los Angeles. “I’ve looked for fun excuses to bring back entertainment to Midland.”
Bond says this event will be the first of its kind in Midland.
“When I found out that the star-spangled Salute was going on in downtown and that 50,000 people come out to that event, I thought it would be so much fun to bring people out and add to the festivities. There’s a big building down there and this will be a great way to get some air-conditioning and entertainment. Plus there’s a terrace that’ll be perfect for fireworks viewing. When I came out there and saw the building and talked to the owners, I thought it would be fun to create that. It would’ve been fun to give it a wild west theme.”
Appearing on stage at the Wild West Round Up will include Ryan Adam Wells who is a multi-award winning country songwriter and performer as well as Cowboy Max who has been a rider and roper ever since a young age.
“We’re going to a wild west theme so we have cowboy comedy and everything will be family entertainment,” Bond said. “We’ll have music from Houston and Austin with old school country. We have some artists coming out from Los Angeles. It’s going to be a blast.”
Also performing will be a magician by the name of Dave Cox who has traveled the world in addition to being the resident magician at Sea World.
The event will also include a “mind-reader” by the name of “Psychic Buster.”
If you go
- What: Firecracker Fandango.
- Where: Downtown Odessa.
- When: 6-10 p.m., July 2.
- Admission: Free.
If you go
- What: Star-Spangled Salute.
- Where: Centennial Park, Midland.
- When: 9 a.m.-10 p.m. July 2.
- Admission: Free.
- Important Note for Star-Spangled Salute.
- No coolers of any size.
- No pets (except service animals).
- No fireworks (including sparklers).
- No canopies, only small umbrellas.
- No glass containers of any kind.
- No smoking/vaping out of designated areas.
- No drones.
