Phillips ready to light up with 4th celebration

The growing village of Phillips is gearing up for its summer celebration, the annual Fourth of July shindig which features food, fireworks, kids games and a car/tractor show.
Penny Evans, Phillips Community Foundation manager who helps coordinate the event, said the energy is growing leading up to this year’s holiday bash.
“We’re pretty excited,” Evans began. “I think a lot of people look forward to the fireworks show. We’ll have our annual root beer floats for $1, which everyone loves, face painting and new this year which we’re pretty excited about we’ll have some Escape Aurora challenge boxes. Those will be available for the public to try and solve, so that is the one new thing we added this year.”
In addition, the car show has been expanded to include tractors this year, giving farm and auto vehicle fans something to look forward to.
All the actives for Monday will be hosted around Phillips Memorial Hall and the adjacent ballfields. Kids games will begin around 5 p.m., with the meal served from 6 to 8:30 p.m.
“Some of the kids games are starting at 5 and all the games will be going from 6 to 9,” she added. “The younger kids games, 12 and under, will be inside the building, and the bouncy house and dunk tank will be outside.”
Tickets will be sold on site for the games, with all proceeds going to the Phillips Community Foundation and Phillips ball program.
Fireworks, as always, are a highlight of the day’s events, with the first blast set to be lit at 10 p.m. Jay Otto helped coordinate fund-raising efforts for the fireworks, reporting that $6,000-$7,000 worth of fireworks will light up the night sky.
One thing not on the agenda this year will be a beer garden, a change which reflects the latest business addition in Phillips.
“We gave up that element because we have a bar in town now,” she said of the new Winchester’s establishment.