Seventh annual Star Spangled Celebration coming to Mack Park on July 4

“It’s a full day of food, fun and fireworks,” said YMCA fundraising, marketing and grants director Sherri Jordan.

Admission into the Star Spangled Celebration is $3 per person or $10 per household.

The event will include activities such as a dunk tank, in which participants can dunk a well-known community member into a “big tank full of water that’s freezing cold”; a vendor show featuring various local food and craft vendors selling goods; a Kids Zone with bounce houses, a Velcro wall and other child-friendly activities; a beer garden, where adults 21 and older can consume alcoholic beverages; a 50/50 raffle; a basket raffle; an apple pie contest; a veteran’s salute; a cornhole tournament, which will take place in the beer garden; and more.

There will be three musical performances on the grass at Mack Park, including Told Ya So! at 1 p.m., Midnight Lights at 3 p.m. and Fuse at 5 p.m. Give Grace, the Grace United Methodist Church’s praise band, will perform at 7:30 p.m. on stage.

Numerous vendors will be present during the event, including Noble Stein Brewing and Levity Brewing in the beer garden, with Noble Stein coordinating the cornhole tournament. But Indiana YMCA CEO Eric Neil said he hopes to get more food and craft vendors to participate in the event.

“Anybody who is a small-business vendor, whether they have a storefront or they sell out of their home, we’re inviting them to come and pay the vendor fee and be a vendor for the day at the Star Spangled Celebration,” Neil said. “We’ve got the whole 55-acre park, and it would be our desire to fill the 55-acre park with 55 acres’ worth of things for people to do.”

Jordan said any children who make and sell crafts can set up shop alongside other vendors for a $10 vendor fee.

“We want child entrepreneurs who maybe make jewelry or paint pictures or have rock art, whatever it is they do,” Jordan said. “We still have room for vendors and kid entrepreneurs.”

Neil and Jordan said they’re also looking for volunteers who can help with this year’s celebration as well as future events.

“It takes about 150 volunteers that day to do this,” Neil said. “And we need a lot more. We do not have anywhere near 150 right now.”

Jordan said she’s looking for active volunteers who can serve on the Star Spangled Celebration committee for future events, too.

This year, the YMCA is partnering with J.S. Mack Foundation, Summit Church, the Indiana County Chamber of Commerce and IndiGO to hold the event. The fireworks show is sponsored by Colonial Toyota.

All proceeds will go toward the cost of the event, and any proceeds left over will be split among the partner agencies involved.

“If there are any proceeds, because it’s very expensive to do all these things, the partner agencies utilize (them) to support their efforts,” Neil said. “So, anything that the YMCA would get goes into our scholarship fund to help provide financial assistance to children and families in our community.”

The Star Spangled Celebration began in 2016 after the YMCA and a few partner organizations took over the fireworks show from the Indiana Lions Club, which had coordinated the July 4 fireworks in Indiana for decades.