Lea Countians have plenty of entertainment options when it comes to celebrating Independence Day with activities planned in Hobbs, Lovington, Eunice and Jal.
Most communities plan to celebrate the Fourth of July on Tuesday, but Eunice kicks off its weekend of fun tonight. Fourth of July activities that can be expected include parades, street dances, the World’s Greatest Lizard Race, a turtle race, the annual Diaper Derby and fireworks displays.
Eunice
The Fourth of July activities are planned to begin with a street dance from 7-10 p.m. tonight at Hughes Park featuring the band 5 Miles West. Food booths will also be available.
“At that street dance we will be having two drawings for free round-trip tickets to anywhere in the U.S. and that’s from FlyHobbs,” said Joanne Moore, Eunice Chamber of Commerce director.
The Independence Day Parade at 9 a.m. starts Saturday’s slate of events. The parade will start at First Baptist Church, 1211 Ave. G and goes down Main Street. After the parade activities will be held at the newly renovated Marshall Park. A ribbon cutting for the park will be held at 10:30 a.m.
This is the first time the public will see the $500,000 renovated park which had old trees removed and new ones planted, new sidewalks, a concrete drain added, replaced electrical outlets as needed, and added disability access and the replacement of tables and benches.
“Through the Maddox Foundation, Lea County and the Eunice Foundation through URENCO they’ve been able to fund renovations in the park and it looks beautiful,” Moore said. “We’re also going to have a red, white and blue balloon release.”
Activities at Marshall park include a climbing wall, turtle races, a DJ, a barbecue and the fire department water polo.
“It’s going to be fun,” Moore said. “It’s a hometown celebration.”
The fireworks display is planned for 9 p.m. at Eunice Lake.
“What happens here in Eunice is a lot of the time people’s family come in on the weekend before and so we thought we would do (activities) the weekend before,” Moore said. “It has turned out well because people have family visiting and they can come.”
Hobbs
Fourth of July events in Hobbs will be held at Harry McAdams Park Tuesday with the annual Diaper Derby planned, a DJ, concession booths and a showing of the movie the Little Rascals.
A grass volleyball tournament is planned to begin at 1 p.m. and the Diaper Derby is planned for 6 p.m.
“There will be booths and concessions going on,” said Meghan Mooney, City of Hobbs communications director. “There will be Kona Ice, kettle corn and a few nonprofits out there.”
The deadline to sign up to place a booth for the Fourth of July is noon today. Call the Parks & Recreation Department at 397-9294.
“The movie that we will be showing is Little Rascals that starts at 8:30 p.m.,” said Mooney.
The movie will be stopped at around 9:15 p.m., for the fireworks display, but put back on after.
Parking will open at 6 p.m. at HIAP for the fireworks display.
Lovington
Lovington has a full schedule of events for its July Fourth Party in the Park at Chaparral Park on Tuesday, which kicks off with the Leaco Fishing Derby at 7:15 a.m. followed by the Lea County Museum Fun Run/Walk at 8 a.m. and the Lovington Economic Development Corporation Sand Volleyball tournament at 8:30 a.m. “We have a lot of activities throughout the day at the park,” said RaeLynn Dunlap, Lovington Chamber of Commerce director. “We have a lot of games for the kids and the adults — a full schedule all morning leading up to the Lizard Race.”
Family and kids’ activities are planned from 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m., which include flag football, a three-legged race, a treasure hunt, sack races and a hula hoop contest.
The World’s Greatest Lizard Race is planned for 2 p.m. and a cornhole tournament is planned right after the Lizard Race is finished.
At 4 p.m. a three-on-three basketball tournament is planned. The day’s activities are planned to end with a fireworks display at 9 p.m.
“I want to encourage everybody to come out,” Dunlap said. “And enjoy the heat with us and take advantage of the splash pad to cool off and have fun with the activities.”
Jal
Jal plans to begin it’s Fourth of July celebration Tuesday with a flag raising ceremony at 9:30 a.m.
A parade is also planned at 10 a.m. and will start on the north end of Main Street and end at the lake.
“After the parade everybody goes to the lake for bingo and the police department is going to have kids games,” said Pj Parker, with the Jal Chamber of Commerce. “There’s a lot of vendors planned to be there. There will also be music throughout the day.”
The fireworks display is planned for 9 p.m.
“We always celebrate on July 4th that way we can go to Eunice if we want (on the weekend),” Parker said.