Fireworks, as any community knows, are iffy in a given year, especially in dry and windy (or wet and windy!) West Texas, and supply or insurance expenses are factors for small-town budgets. We’ve learned in recent days that both Spur and McAdoo have decided not to hold Fourth of July displays for 2025 (Dickens hasn’t weighed in yet; White River Marina says theirs is a go).
But if you’re going to be in Spur during the day this July 4, come on down and enjoy a tradition with a new name and expanded festivities: Fourth on Burlington.
On Friday, July 4, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and starting off with a patriotic parade along Burlington Avenue, enjoy a menu of midday activities in the newly landscaped Rickels Park at 3rd and Burlington. We also expect to have a flag-raising ceremony at the newly refurbished memorial flagpole.
Although this won’t be the City of Spur’s official rededication of the park (that’ll happen this fall), it will serve as a “shakedown cruise” to see how to best stage vendor booths, lawn games, picnic tables and grilling, music, ice cream contest, and more in our premier downtown public space.
We hope this annual event will become a tradition to kick off holiday fun and celebration in Spur and throughout Dickens County. It’ll serve as the lead event for a day that can continue all afternoon at the Swenson Park Pool, the Spur golf course, the Dickens Spring, or local shopping and dining; and any fireworks displays that are taking place within the county in a given year.
Your ideas for the event are welcome, at spur@TheTexasSpur.com We hope it can be the centerpiece event that helps encourage overnight stays in Spur and Dickens County. This is a key component of our local hotel-motel tax—to boost support for those enterprises. Please spread the word to your family and friends in other communities! Perhaps, if we don’t have a fireworks show this year, a movie or live entertainment at The Palace Theater that night would be worth sticking around and attending?
What other facets of a signature event would you like to see?
• Family-friendly games such as a cornhole tournament, pickleball, lawn games, kiddie games — with prizes?
• Promotion of downtown/countywide businesses and eateries that are open July 4 and 5, with a discount coupon?
• Flag displays all up and down Burlington? Lawn and window patriotic displays?
• Expanded participation in the parade? Let’s build on our classic-car-and-fire-truck tradition with more!
• Involvement of churches, especially those along Burlington?
• Involvement of groups and individuals with homemade ice cream contest entries? (A perennial favorite in Swenson Park in past years)
• What are other ways to attract visitors and locals to spend their holiday time and resources with our communities?
Thank you all in advance for your ideas and support.
Kay Ellington Spur Area Chamber of Commerce president, 2025
