Blaine’s Fourth of July is back for 2021 festivities

An article with Fourth of July event updates can be found here. 

Fourth of July festivities will take over downtown Blaine on July 4, albeit a few annual mainstays will be scaled back or missing due to the pandemic.

Carroll Solomon, a director on Blaine Chamber of Commerce board who helps organize the event with the city of Blaine, said the celebrations will start at 12 p.m. with the annual street fair. About 30-40 vendors will take over one block on G Street and fill the parking lot behind Black Forest Steakhouse, at 638 Peace Portal Drive.

Solomon said event coordinators hope to keep the festival to a few thousand people in the community this year, instead of drawing the 10,000 people seen in previous years.

“We don’t want too many people to come,” Solomon said. “We want to keep it manageable.”

All street fair vendors will be local this year, selling everything from food to crafts such as jewelry and toys. Solomon is accepting vendor applications, but space is limited so people interested are encouraged to email Solomon at cjsolomon07@comcast.net.

The one block of G Street will be the only road closed, Solomon said. Peace Portal Drive will remain open because it’s a state highway, which requires a three-month notice to close, she said.

No parade will travel through the downtown streets, Solomon said, in part because of not being able to close the road and trying to attract a smaller crowd.

“We had to skip the things we knew would attract too many people, but wanted to still appeal to the locals,” Solomon said.

Blaine Library, at 610 3rd Street, will also host its biannual book sale in the library parking lot, except the book sale will only be one day instead of three. Hours are not yet set for the book sale, Solomon said.

There will be no car show  which often packs more than 250 cars on Martin Street, because it was too late to organize. There also won’t be a pancake breakfast at the Blaine Senior Center, Solomon said.

The kid area will be modified to have one-on-one activities since most children aren’t vaccinated, Solomon said. Activities are still tentative, but could include games such as bean bag toss, lawn darts and a downtown scavenger hunt with prizes.

Local musicians are invited to play in the G Street Plaza from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. Right now, the 133d Army National Guard Band is scheduled to play rock music at 1 p.m. and then traditional patriotic music at 9 p.m. leading up to the fireworks. Solomon said the city of Blaine has expressed interest in buskers performing at the plaza for free from the midafternoon until the patriotic music starts at 9 p.m.

Until governor Jay Inlsee’s recent announcement on opening the state by June 30, Solomon said the only event planned for the Fourth of July was fireworks, which will shoot off at 10 p.m. in Blaine Marine Park.

Everyone who attends Blaine’s Fourth of July is strongly encouraged to wear a mask and social distance, Solomon said. “At a festival like this, you’ll brush by other people but we’ll do the best we can,” she said.

Solomon said she’s most excited for the annual street fair.

“It’s a great relief,” she said of the Fourth of July celebrations. “We get a lot of phone calls at the visitor center about things that aren’t happening. I’m just so happy to be able to tell people that, ‘yes, there is something going on this year.’”

Street fair vendors and musicians interested in playing music at the G Street Plaza can email Carroll Solomon at cjsolomon07@comcast.net.