Feeding is part of the fun of the Fourth

The Fourth of July is about a red, white and blue parade, street games, races of all kinds for all kinds of boats, logging skills competition — and food.

With two days of events left in the holiday week, the area around the downtown pavilion, behind Wells Fargo bank and the Elks Lodge and in the direction of the Stikine Inn will be filled with booths, games and a wide variety of food.

Organizers have scheduled a little more time between events this year to allow people a chance to try out the menus on Wednesday and Thursday, July 3-4.

The food offerings this week will include barbecue, Thai dishes, the Catholic Church’s “Holy Burgers,” tacos, Philly cheesesteak sandwiches, coffee and the annual Beta Sigma Phi fundraising pie sale on Thursday morning.

The Fourth parade will start at 11 a.m. from the Nolan Center, moving slowly to Front Street and then taking a left and pulling off Front Street before reaching the barge ramp and freight storage area.

The color guard will stop near the Elks Lodge, accompanied by the national anthem, said Kimberly Szczatko, treasurer for the chamber of commerce, which is organizing the events.

“I am hoping for everything as planned, no snafus,” she said last week.

Entries in the parade float judging need to line up at the Nolan Center by 10 a.m. Thursday.

Szczatko said that while revving vehicle and motorcycle engines is part of the parade atmosphere, she asked drivers to be careful not to peel out after stops, taking care to watch for children who will be walking around the street to pick up candy from the floats.

The full schedule of events is in this week’s Sentinel, printed in the centerfold to make it easier to pull it out and carry around.

The royalty fundraising raffle prize drawing is scheduled for right after the parade ends, and will be held at the downtown pavilion.

The final events Thursday will be the boat races starting at 4:30 p.m. off the City Dock, and the street dance starting at 8 p.m. at the downtown pavilion and Lynch Street, with Wrangell band ShotrocK of Doc Rock, Glen and Kelley Decker, Elias Decker and Jason Beaty.