Vancouver fireworks at 10:05, but fun for 10.5 hours

The fireworks will start at 10:05 p.m.

Some folks think that’s the most important bit of information about Fort Vancouver’s annual Independence Day celebration.

But people attending this year’s July 4 festivities at the Fort Vancouver National Site will be able to see a lot more than bombs bursting in air.

Entertainment

o The Heritage Stage will focus on the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, said Susan Parrish, who will manage the site. There will be heritage fashion shows, black-powder shooting demonstrations and musical performances, including the Misty Mamas. At a nearby hands-on-history tent, visitors can learn handicrafts and games from the Civil War era.

o The Main Stage entertainment begins at noon with PEMCO Insurance’s Sing 4th Teen vocal competition, followed by live music until the fireworks begin at 10:05 p.m.

o The Parade Ground Bandstand will offer traditional children’s games, and teens can enjoy live music, crafts, water balloon competitions and a dollar cage.

Tickets

Tickets at the gate are $7; advance tickets — available online or at Fort Vancouver National Site through July 3 — are $5.

Children 12 and younger are free.

Tickets for the Waste Connections’ Fireworks Prime Viewing Area are $50 for ages 21 and older, $25 for ages 6 to 20; younger children are free.

Around the Site

There will be free guided walking tours of Officers Row and Vancouver Barracks. Pearson Air Museum will reduce its regular $22 family admission to $5 for two adults and up to four children. Family admission to the reconstructed Fort Vancouver also is $5.

Getting there

From 6 to 8:30 p.m., C-Tran will run shuttles to the event every 15 minutes from the north side of Westfield Vancouver mall. Paid parking lots will be available to the east and west of the Fort Vancouver National Site. All downtown metered parking is free for the holiday. Bicyclists can pedal to the event and leave their bikes at monitored bike parking.

For information

Fort Vancouver National Trust: http://fortvan.org or 360-992-1808.

The 48th annual celebration — officially known as Independence Day at Fort Vancouver presented by Bank of America — will offer almost 10½ hours of entertainment and activities.

This will be the second year of the Independence Day event under its current configuration, after the Fort Vancouver grounds went dark in 2009.

And that’s actually something else a few people have been curious about, said Cara Cantonwine, director of programs for the Fort Vancouver National Trust.

A few staff members of the National Trust, which produces the celebration, have been asked if the group was bringing it back again this year.

“And we are,” she said.

While she didn’t have the numbers immediately available, Cantonwine said expenses in 2010 matched up almost exactly with income. “Last year created the financial stability that enabled us to bring it back.”

For those who attended, the most visible change was an admission fee. Last year was the first time organizers set up gates and charged an entry fee.

Additional revenue came from sponsorships and a prime viewing area, where 250 people paid premium prices for front-row seats and a catered picnic.

The headline event will be a 20-minute fireworks show that also will be televised on KGW, Channel 8. For some families, that will cap a 14½-hour outing.

“We open our gates at 8 a.m., for families that want to stake out places with blankets in the picnic area,” Cantonwine said.

Games, vendors and entertainment start at noon.