City Prepares for Big July 4th Celebration on Saturday

A city worker hangs a flag banner in anticipation of the July 4th celebration.

Final preparations are underway for Saturday’s big July 4th Celebration, and the event’s organizers are planning a day to remember.

The day will begin with a parade down Broadway at ten o’clock, followed by the Plowboy Mudbog at George Parks Field, with the gates opening at eleven and the event beginning at twelve.

After the parade, street vendors will be open and selling food and other wares along Broadway, Cypress, and Old Town Park, and the Roscoe Historical Museum will be open for visitors. The Roscoe Community Center will also be open with vendors and food.

The Roscoe Express will be available to shuttle people free of charge between downtown and the Plowboy Mudbog during the afternoon.  There will also be free swimming from 1-5pm at the City Swimming Pool.

Music will begin “on the bricks” of Cypress next to the bank at six o’clock with the new and improved Nine Mile Mountain band, followed at eight by the well-known “red dirt” band Cody Canada and the Departed, followed by the ever popular fireworks show.

Here are more details about the various events of the day:

THE PARADE

Parade organizers invite your participation.  They are looking for creativity and variety.  Float awards will be presented to best overall, best western, and most patriotic. Prizes will also be awarded to the best semi, best antique vehicle, best motorcycle, and best bicycle.

The parade will start at 10:00am.  Line-up will be on West Broadway at 9:30am, and judging will be at 9:45am.

For more information, call Valerie Pruitt at 325-338-4666.

THE PLOWBOY MUDBOG

This year’s Plowboy Mudbog at George Parks Field will feature mudboggers from Hobbs, NM, El Paso, Amarillo, Colorado City, Snyder, Ballinger, Roscoe, and elsewhere, so the competition should be fierce.

Registration for entrants begins at 9:30am Saturday morning at the northwest corner of the baseball field at Second and Sycamore Streets.  The driver entry fee is $30.

Entries will be in five classes:

1.    Street: 35” tires and under with limited engine modification
2.    Super Street: 35” with engine vac under 13”
3.    Modified: 36” to 39” with limited engine modification
4.    Super Modified: 36” to 39” with engine vac under 13”
5.    Open: 40” and over.

Since there’s an advantage in going last rather than first, each mud vehicle makes two runs, with the second run in reverse order from the first.

The public gate will open at 11:00am with the mudbog beginning at noon.  Admission is $5 for adults and $2 for kids from 8 to 14.  Children 7 and under are free.  Proceeds will benefit the Roscoe baseball little league. The Little League will also run the concession booth.

Time permittting, there will also be a Plowboy Mudbog “Dash for Cash,” an entertaining event featuring kids running through knee-deep mud.

For more information, see the Plowboy Mudbog Facebook page, or contact Felix Pantoja at 325-514-8384.

THE COMMUNITY CENTER

The Roscoe Community Center will be open with vendors and food. A good place to do some shopping and get out of the heat, it also has clean restrooms.

SWIMMING POOL

Swimming at the Roscoe City Pool will be free of charge from 1:00-5:00pm.  The City Pool is located at 4th and Cedar Streets next to the City Park.


THE FREE CONCERT AND STREET DANCE

The Departed: Steve Littleton, Jeremy Plato, Chris Doege, Cody Canada

The music stage will be set up on Cypress Street between the Roscoe State Bank and Old Town Park.  Nine Mile Mountain will open the show at around six o’clock.  They will be followed at eight o’clock by this year’s feature act, Cody Canada and the Departed, who will play until 9:30 or so.

Cody Canada was the lead singer of the “red dirt” band, Cross Canadian Ragweed, from 1994 to 2010, but in 2011, he and bass guitarist Jeremy Plato along with two others formed The Departed and have been playing under that name since.

The Departed released their first album, This is Indian Land, in 2011, Adventus in 2012, and their latest, HippieLovePunk, in October, 2014.  Canada also released a solo-acoustic album, Some Old, Some New, Maybe a Cover or Two, in 2013. Popular singles by Canada include “17,” “Sister,” “Cold Hard Fact,” “Set It Free,” and others.

FIREWORKS SHOW

The fireworks show, organized, as always, by City Councilman Robert McBride, will be a memorable event that fittingly tops off the day. The show begins at about 9:40pm and will be done at about ten o’clock.

Those who are still not done celebrating can then go to the Lumberyard, where there will be live music and dancing until 1:00am.

So, if you're in the area, make plans to attend, bring lawn chairs and coolers, and help us celebrate the country’s independence on Saturday!

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FREE MOVIES AT COMMUNITY CENTER SELECTED FOR TUESDAY, JULY 7

Next Tuesday, July 7, two free movies will be shown at the Roscoe Community Center and everyone is invited. Guests are welcome to bring their own bean bags or chairs or sit in the ones provided at the Community Center. The movies are free, but don’t forget to bring some money for snacks as the concession stand will be open.

The first movie, starting at 7:00pm, will be the animated Paddington. The second, starting at 9:00pm, is When the Game Stands Tall, starring Jim Caviezel and Laura Dern.

For more information, contact Community Center Director Gail Presley at 325-518-4135.

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WEATHER REPORT: ANOTHER NICE RAIN

Water was standing everywhere yesterday morning.

We got a surprise early yesterday morning. Although the weather forecasters gave the area no chance of rain and there was nothing to speak of on the radar earlier in the evening, clouds north of Snyder started making up after sundown and a front continued to build. Then, shortly after 2am a cool, strong wind blew in and was almost immediately followed by thunder, lightning, and a heavy downpour. By then, the front extended all the way past Odessa in the west and as far as Cisco and Eastland in the east with thunderstorms almost everywhere as it passed through.

 At my house well over an inch of rain fell in about a half-hour before letting up somewhat. By the time it was over around 5am, there was 2.14” in my rain gauge, and, as I found out later, that was not an unusual amount for the Roscoe area. As always, some got more and others less, depending on location, but almost everyone got a substantial amount, i.e., somewhere between a little less than an inch up to three inches.

Roscoe weatherman Kenny Landfried recorded an official 1.64” at his home in east Roscoe, but most of the people I talked to in south Roscoe had from two to two and a half inches.  The Pyron area also got that amount as did farms west and southwest of town, although I was told the rainfall was somewhat lighter south of Champion as well as just northwest of town. In any case, water was standing everywhere today, and the streets are once again covered with big puddles and, in some places, pools of water.

Roscoe’s official total for the month of June was 4.11” and for the year so far is 16.99”.

Other than yesterday morning’s thunderstorm, though, the week was typical for this time of year with partly cloudy skies, south or southeast winds, and temperatures of around 90°F in the afternoons, cooling off to around 70° at sunrise.  The forecast for the coming week is for more of the same with sunny to partly cloudy skies, highs in the low nineties, and lows in the low seventies.

There is a 20% chance of rain on Friday, but none otherwise, so the July 4th celebration on Saturday should be hot and dry, although with the way the weather’s been going so far this year, I wouldn’t bet the ranch on it.

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