Prepare to watch waves of red, white and blue replace the orange barricades in downtown Granville as the Fourth of July festival and celebration takes over the village next month. 

The festival, in Granville from July 2 to July 5, is expected to go on without a hitch despite construction downtown according to local officials. With only a few minor changes, most aspects of the event will remain the same.

Fireworks will be held at 10 p.m. on July 2 at Wildwood Park, with live entertainment in the park before the fireworks. And the annual “Mile Long Parade” will start at 10:45 a.m. on July 4.

“We’re working really closely with the contractor to make sure that Fourth of July is what everyone is used to,” said Village Manager Herb Koehler.

One change includes the new environmentally friendly bump-outs that make pedestrian walkways shorter and will filter rain water through rain gardens. The bump-outs will not affect the number of vendors present at the celebration, though they may be in different spots than usual. 

A second change is that the Kiwanis will not bring their semi-trailer displaying the major sponsors of the event. Kiwanis, which has hosted the event in the village since 1964, will now feature sponsors on the back of this year’s celebration t-shirt. 

“This year, we put our major sponsors’ emblems on the back of the T-shirts, and then we’re going to have other ways to recognize the major sponsors and all the other sponsors,” said Jerry Miller, co-chair of the Kiwanis Fourth of July Kiwanis event. 

Some vendors will change “footprints.” The lemon shake-up stand and Boy Scout french-fry stand will move closer to the stage than their usual location near CVS Pharmacy. Bates Brothers Amusement Co., the company that brings the carnival rides to the village, will take measurements in the coming days to reconfigure rides.

The parade route will not be impacted by the construction, and the sidewalks will be open for folks to watch the parade. 

“They’re going to have it all to a certain point where we can take barricades down and open up the sidewalks,” said Clerk of Council Autumn Klein. 

The village will shut down East Broadway to traffic beginning at 2 p.m. Tuesday, July 1. To accommodate increased traffic, cars cannot park in the 100 or 200 block of East College Street – between W. Main Street and North Pearl Street – from 2 p.m. on July 1 to 4 a.m. on July 6.

The consensus is that little will change for this year’s parade. 

“They have it down to an art,” said Granville Police Chief Bill Caskey about the event planners. 

“You just have to be flexible with little changes, and that’s what we will be and looking forward to – another great Fourth of July this year,” Miller said.

Here are the details of road closings in preparation for the celebration:

W. Broadway:

  • Roadway between Shepardson Court and the west corporation limit will close from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. on July 2 
  • The north side of the roadway from N. Main St. to N. Plum St. and both sides of the street from Plum St. west to the corporation limit from 6 a.m. to noon on July 4

Old Sycamore Lane:

  • Entire roadway from 6 p.m. to 12 a.m. on July 2
  • Entire roadway 6 a.m. to noon on July 4

Wildwood Drive:

  • Entire roadway from 6 p.m. to 12 a.m. on July 2 
  • Entire roadway from 6 a.m. to noon on July 4 

E. Broadway:

  • 100 and 200 blocks from 2 p.m. on July 1 to 4 a.m. on July 6

N. Main Street:

  • No parking from 2 p.m. on July 1 to 4 a.m. on July 6 

E. College Street:

  • No parking in the 100 and 200 blocks from  2 p.m. on July 1 to 4 a.m. on July 6
  • No parking in the 300 and 400 blocks from 6 a.m. to noon on July 4

W. Maple Street:

  • No parking on the north side of the roadway in the 300, 400 and 500 blocks from 6 p.m. to 12 a.m. on July 2
  • No parking in the entire area on from 6 a.m. to noon on July 4

Shepardson Court:

  • No parking on the east side of the roadway from 6 p.m. to 12 a.m. on July 2
  • No parking in the entire area on 6 a.m. to noon on July 4 

Palmer Lane:

  • No parking from 6 p.m. to 12 a.m. on July 2 
  • Handicap parking will be at the Granville Water Treatment Plant at 445 Palmer Ln. 

Maddie Luebkert writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.