Many of the traditional summer events in Central Oregon have been canceled. Between all the reopenings, new office environments and stay-at-home orders, it barely seems like it’s July. Fourth of July is upon us, too, and if not for the early-birds shooting off their stash of cuckoos, black cats, poppers and groundhogs, it seems impossible that the holiday is already here.

Despite all the uncertainties and unrest in the world, the fireworks shows in Bend, La Pine, Madras and Prineville will still be lighting up Central Oregon’s skies.

Redmond announced earlier this week that their show, typically set off at the Deschutes County Fairgrounds, would not take place. The Redmond Chamber of Commerce, however, have organized a couple of alternative celebrations the town can participate in earlier in the day including the porch and mini parades. Residents can decorate the fronts of their houses and those locations will be mapped for audiences to view from their cars or on foot.

The annual four-day La Pine Frontier Days has also pulled the reins on this year’s event.

“I’m kind of lost,” said Frontier Days’ president Ann Gawith, “we’re all kind of lost without it.”

Gawith and her team at the La Pine Frontier Days Association, which organizes the event, however, decided that despite the cancellation, the fireworks would still take place.

This year would have marked the 44th official year of the celebration which had been taking place unofficially for nearly 100 years, Gawith said.

“This area’s always been (for) people that were kind of far-flung with lots of road between them,” she said, “But that was the one time of year that they would come into town and get together and celebrate.”

Last year the association purchased a 40-acre parcel of land in the middle of La Pine between Third and Sixth streets just west of U.S. Highway 97. This meadow was the traditional grounds where the fireworks were lit, and it will continue to be this year.

To promote social distancing, the meadow grounds will not be open to the public and instead, residents will have to find their own place to watch the show, something they had to do every year before the land was purchased.

“People have their favorite places…,” Gawith said, “People have their favorite spots that they’ve gone to for years to watch the fireworks so they’ll just be back to that old normal.”

One new addition to the festivities this year, Gawith said, is the presence of 55-gallon metal drums spread throughout town.

“People have got their … personal fireworks that they’re doing on the roadway and…the next morning, the road is just littered,” she said, adding, “We’re asking that people please clean up after themselves and put their leftover fireworks or whatever — their garbage — in these barrels and we will pick them up and throw it away.”

None of this would have been possible though, Gawith said, without the support of the La Pine Frontier Days sponsors.

“Our presenting sponsor for the last few years has been Grocery Outlet since they came to town…we only have a limited avenue of advertising opportunities…and we usually put out a 60-page program guide — we’re not doing that — so the avenue of getting the word out about these people has been very limited,” she said, “So…many many people stepped up and with their usual sponsorship or the money that they would spend on advertising in the program guide they gave us that money in sponsorship instead and so that allowed us to be able to do it this year.”

The theme for this year’s event is “Blast the Virus,” and Gawith hopes the public will be safe this year. “We don’t want some new crop of virus that can stem from people getting together for our fireworks,” she said.

“By golly, we’re going to be over this, and (next year is) going to be the best Frontier Days you’ve ever seen.”

In Prineville, the annual parade, bike race and the Old Fashioned 4th of July festival in Ochoco Creek Park has also been canceled. The Splash-n-Dash quadrathlon has been adjusted to a virtual race with exception of the John Marsh Memorial 5K, which will be run both virtually and in-person.

Kim Daniels, executive director of the Prineville-Crook County Chamber of Commerce knew that the entire celebration couldn’t just be a wash.

“Knowing everything that wasn’t happening,” she said, “…Republic Services, which was formerly Prineville Disposal has always done the fireworks in the past, and I got in touch with them and they said they were still willing to fund it and put it on, but they needed to make sure that it was OK with the community.”

So Daniels set off making the connections the company needed with the local police, fire and health departments to “get the go-ahead and the blessing, per se, of all of the authorities…And after making all those phone calls, everyone was on board. They felt like it was something we could do really safely.”

Dollar-wise, Daniels said that all sponsors were committed to the same amount as in years past.

The show will shoot off from the Ochoco Wayside State Park at 10 p.m., making it easy for the majority of the town to see without gathering in at a particular location.

The entire wayside will be closed to the public Saturday as the pyrotechnicians set up for the event.

“(We’re) just pretty much asking people to do what we’re asking them to do everywhere,” Daniels said, “Do your social distancing, wear your mask and, you know, keep washing your hands.”