BY JESSICA STEELEY
Clarkston News Staff Writer
After the Clarkston Fourth of July parade, residents head to Clintonwood Park for the annual Independence Fest, a local tradition in Independence Township.
The festival, with sponsors including Independence Township, City of the Village of Clarkston, The Clarkston News, and Bowman Chevrolet, starts at 11 a.m. and ends with the last boom of fireworks, around 10:30 p.m.
Parks, Recreation and Seniors Events Coordinator Amy Laboissonniere said the action-packed event includes kid’s games, craft show, veteran’s celebration, disc dog competition and live entertainment.
“We have the veteran’s celebration, then we have some entertainment afterwards. We do have dog adoptions out by the disc dog area,” Laboissonniere said. “We have the Clarkston Lions coming, they’re doing their vision screening, and then at 7, we have Alan Turner and the Steel Horse Band coming and they’ll play til just before the fireworks. The fireworks start at about 10.”
The Clintonwood parking lot usually fills up by 2 or 3 p.m., so they’ll have shuttle buses going around to several different parking areas in a couple miles radius around the park. The shuttle is $2.
Concession carnival food will be available from Mercurio Concessions, Nicks Concessions, Mastro’s Ice Cream, Backyard BBQ, and others.
“This is whole heartland of America approach to building neighborhoods, building communities and being thankful for what we have. The guys do a great job putting all that together,” said Independence Township Supervisor Pat Kittle. “There are so many things for kids to do, for adults to do and then have 12, 15 thousand of our closest friends together there for the fireworks display, it’s just a blast.”
After fireworks, everyone will pile back onto the shuttles and be taken to their cars. Laboissonniere estimated 13,000 people attended the fest last year.
“It can be really crazy, but it’s a lot of fun too, and the fireworks show is really good,” Laboissonniere said. “Clintonwood is where it’s happening.”