In less than a month, Fallon will honor the Fourth of July with a parade as this nation celebrates its 243rd birthday.
The Fallon Merchants Association selected July 3 for the parade to coincide with the Green Goddess Farmers Market from 3-8 p.m. In previous years, the city of Fallon has avoided scheduling major events on Sundays.
The market is the first Saturday of the month through September, and the Oats Park Arts Center and Lariat Courtyard are combining artwork with produce grown by local farmers.
This year’s Independence Day theme has a familiar ring to it with “Baseball, Apple Pie & 4th of July,” but according to Lucy Carnahan, executive director of the Fallon Chamber of Commerce, Churchill County is a hotbed of summer sports involving both boys and girls of all ages. Every year the guys and gals of summer participate in baseball and softball tournaments both locally and at the regional or state level.
The merchants invite entries from individuals, businesses, groups and organizations. The awards will be handed out for Best Use of Theme, Best Youth, Best Civic/Non-Profit Group, Best Business Entry, Best Mounted Individual, Best Mounted Group, Best Farm Equipment, Best Ag, Best Automobile, Best Military, Most Patriotic, Fallon Merchants Association Choice and People’s Choice.
Parade winners and prizes will be awarded at 2:45 p.m. at the Farmers Market.
The parade begins 10 a.m. and will follow the city’s traditional route. The staging area is at the Churchill County Middle School, and the parade moves north on Taylor Street to A Street. The route heads east for one block, moves south in front of the American Legion Hall to Williams Avenue and then east two more blocks to Maine Street. From there, the route goes south to the middle school.
This year the Fallon Merchants Association, formerly known as the Downtown Merchants Association, takes over the parade in conjunction with the city of Fallon and Churchill County. Last year because of the coronavirus pandemic restrictions and liability concerns, both the city and Churchill County provided the sponsorship and organization of entries and developed a plan for social distancing and masks. This year, the county opened up on May 1.
The parade has been an important event held during the Fourth of July. The Silver State International Rodeo once sponsored the parade, but the parade ceased when the SSIR moved to Winnemucca. The Fallon Chamber of Commerce and its former director, Natalie Parrish, revived the event in 2012.
Parade forms may be picked at the Fallon Chamber of Commerce and either dropped off at His Inspirations on 200B South Maine Street, mailed to P.O. Box 422, Fallon 89407-0422 or emailed to hisinspirations@yahoo.com. For questions, call Wende Hook at 775-423-0622 and leave a message if no one answers or Kim Klenakis at 775-426-8371.
