New location for Sebastopol’s annual July 3rd fireworks event

The event has been moved to the Community Center grounds on Morris Street because of construction at Analy High School

The flag parade from the 2024 fireworks event. (Photo by Don Jackson)

Big changes are afoot for Sebastopol’s July 3rd Fireworks and Music Extravaganza next week on Thursday, July 3. The biggest of these is that it will be in a completely different location.

Due to ongoing construction at Analy High School, the football field where Sebastopol’s fireworks celebration has traditionally been held is inaccessible, so the Kiwanis Club, which hosts the event, has moved it a short distance away to the Sebastopol Community and Cultural Center on Morris Street.

Several blocks of Morris Street, between Laguna Parkway and Johnson Street, will be closed off for the occasion.

Gates will open at 4 pm, and the nighttime aerial pyrotechnics are scheduled to launch by 9:30 pm. In between will be hours of live music, food trucks and booths, activities for children and families, a new beer and wine garden (available to premium ticket holders and anyone who buys wine/beer tickets), and plenty of opportunity for locals to show off their best festive and patriotic costumes, decorations and hometown pride.

With its larger location, this year’s event is putting more emphasis on music. There will be three ongoing stages all evening. The music starts just after 4 pm and will feature Sebastopol’s own Sol Horizon, Jim Corbett (“Mr. Music”), plus the best bands from last fall’s Sebastopol Porch Fest.

“Alcohol will be served for the first time, so it’s a whole new party with an expanded footprint, including a premium indoor air-conditioned area and a family-friendly (no alcohol) section on the adjacent Little League ball field,” said Kiwanian Craig Litwin.

There will also be the traditional flag ceremony and mini-parade at dusk. A raffle drawing will be held at 9:15 pm just before Audio Angel sings the National Anthem.

General admission is $20 for adults and $5 for youth ages 6-11. Children under five are free. Early bird tickets ($17) can be purchased on the Kiwanis website. New this year are premium tickets ($55), which include parking, drink ticket, appetizers and special seating and access to the air-conditioned indoor space at the Community Center.

No outside alcohol or fireworks are allowed. Only service animals (no pets) will be allowed.

As always, parking will mostly be catch as catch can. However, this year the Kiwanis Club is offering a free shuttle from the O’Reilly campus on North Gravenstein Highway to transport people to the party zone. The shuttles will provide luggage space for attendees’ coolers, chairs, strollers and blankets.

“We encourage everyone to bring any kind of light chair or blankets,” said Litwin. Because there’s no need to protect the turf of the football field this year, any kind of chair will do.

A continuing tradition thanks to Kiwanis

The local Sebastopol Kiwanis Club has hosted the fireworks show since 1973, always at Analy High School, until this year. From the beginning, the decision was made to shoot off the fireworks on July 3 and not compete with other fireworks displays around the county held on the Fourth. This year marks the 52nd year of the Sebastopol fireworks.

The 3rd of July fireworks celebration is the main fundraiser for the local Kiwanis Club, which provides local student scholarships and gives grants to various community groups. Kiwanis also hosts the annual Easter Egg Hunt and, as of last year, the Halloween Village in Ives Park.

“It’s all 100 percent local, and we try to spread our support all around the community,” said Natalie McNamara, a member of the Sebastopol Kiwanis. “We’re a total volunteer organization, so we can work to make as much impact as possible.”

A core group of Kiwanians has been working for months to prepare for next week’s 3rd of July festivities, facilitating the move to a new location and adding new features to the event. Philena Chantha and Callie Kono have been at the front of much of the early work, according to McNamara and Litwin. The Kiwanis Club is also grateful to the local Boy Scouts troop, which assists on July 3 with the flag presentation, as well as completing the cleanup the day after.

Coming together to celebrate the USA

When the first Sebastopol Kiwanis fireworks celebration was held in 1973, the Vietnam War was still two years from its official end. In many years of the event’s half century, the headlines surrounding the Fourth of July were not always only about celebrating the founding of the United States or about peace, liberty and freedom. But through wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and after the 9/11 terrorist attacks of 2001, thousands of Sebastopol residents and families have always gathered for an evening of true patriotism and inclusiveness.

This year of 2025 is also accompanied by shadows of wars and national headlines of cultural and domestic political divisiveness. But if the long history of Sebastopol’s 3rd of July Fireworks & Music Extravaganza is any proof, this year’s event will again offer many examples of national pride and affirmations of the human rights first declared in the Declaration of Independence from July 4, 1776.