PLATTE CITY’S CELEBRATION MOVES TO SPLASH PARK
For the third straight year the City of Platte City will host a daytime July 4th celebration, an event that brought large crowds into Downtown Platte City the past two years.
There is major change for 2023: the event won’t be downtown but instead will be held at the city’s splash pad area–officially known as Rising Star Park, 1009 Second Street.
Why the change?
“Now that we’ve got that park open, it has some amenities that the kids can play on. But mainly (the move) is to try to mitigate much of the heat issues. It was so hot for all the volunteers and for the crowd,” Mayor Tony Paolillo said this week in an interview with The Landmark.
Paolillo pointed to the permanent shade structures in place at Rising Star Park, and said that some tents will also be set up for additional shade for the Tuesday, July 4 event.
The mayor said the shade structures and the grass–instead of the pavement of the asphalt and concrete on Main Street–should help provide some relief from the heat.
During last year’s Fourth of July celebration, air temperatures were around 93 degrees when the celebration was winding down around 2 p.m., with a “feels like” temperature of 106, factoring in the humidity.
Paolillo said city officials are not worried about lacking in space.
“We laid it out. There’s going to be plenty of space,” he said.
Attendees can park at the nearby Harrel Ferrel baseball fields or the Civic Center parking lots and walk to the celebration. City officials said free shuttle rides will be available from the Platte County High School to the park, as well. The shuttles will run every 10-15 minutes. Last shuttle will leave the Civic Center at 1:30 p.m.
This year the daytime celebration will run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Last year’s celebration ran 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
A main attraction again this year is free food from a variety of food trucks. The city picks up the tab on the food.]
The free food will be available while supplies last, as they say.
“Each food truck gets an allotted amount (of dollars from the city) and they’ll run until they hit that–or sell out,” said the mayor.
Food trucks on site this year are scheduled to be:
*Highway 92 food truck
*KC Dogs Cart
*Jack’s Kettle Corn and Lemonade
*Urban Street Taqueria
*Jadabay’s Tasty Kitchen.
Organizers say other highlights this year will include family games, Bubble Magic KC, a dunk tank, live entertainment, face painting, a balloon artist, caricature artist and more.
A supplied schedule of events–all free–reads like this:
9 a.m.: Bubble Magic KC
9 a.m.: DJ Luke
9 a.m.: Family friendly games
9:30 a.m.: Beatniks Dance and Tumble.
10 a.m.: Appearance by KC Wolf
10 a.m.: Flag football tournament
11 a.m.: The Good Sam Club Band
The city also sponsors a nighttime fireworks display that will be set off at the Platte County School District campus along Hwy. 92 in Platte City. No stadium seating is being offered for the display, which is typically visible from a great distance.
Some of the popular viewing locations in the past have been Hillcrest Thrift Shop parking area, Platte Valley Park, the Mid-Continent Public Library parking lot, Price Chopper, Platte County High School parking area and Platte City Middle School parking areas, as well as parking lots at Siegrist Elementary School and Compass Elementary School.