Pahrump plans parade, family fun and fireworks for Fourth of July

Roads along Calvada Boulevard will close at 8:30 a.m. Saturday for Pahrump’s 250th Birthday Celebration Parade, and the town’s Fourth of July schedule will quickly shift from morning traffic to a full day of family events before fireworks light up the night.

The parade is set for 9 a.m. and will be part of Pahrump’s America 250 celebration. Family Fun Day will follow at 11:30 a.m. with free food, activities and a watermelon-eating contest, then a water balloon fight with the Nye County Sheriff’s Office and kids at noon. The event is being organized by the Pahrump Holiday Task Force with help from the Pahrump Disability Outreach Program, and local sponsors include Desert View Hospital, Joe’s Sanitation, Heritage Bible Church, Valley Electric Association, AmeriGas and Pahrump Family Mortuary.

The evening fireworks show will run from 9 p.m. to about 9:30 p.m. July 4 at Ian Deutch Memorial Park, 1600 Honeysuckle Street, with the launch site on county-owned vacant land at 1691 S. Pahrump Valley Blvd., directly across the street. Town postings say a previously announced parking area behind the commercial and medical center at the northeast corner of Calvada Boulevard and Pahrump Valley Boulevard is not available, so arrival time and parking plans will matter for anyone heading to the show after dark.

The fireworks move from Petrack Park to Ian Deutch Memorial Park reflects safety concerns and continued residential growth around the older site. Zambelli Fireworks is producing the display, and the town has put more funding into this year’s show than in past years as Pahrump marks America’s 250th anniversary. The same milestone is carrying into the fall, when the Pahrump Fall Festival parade will use the theme “Stars, Stripes and 250 Years Strong.”