Whether you prefer fireworks or horseshoes, area offerings have you covered

Fireworks and the Fourth just go hand in hand.

It's a 230-years-plus tradition, started in Philadelphia when it was the capital of the nascent United States. Now, almost all municipalities have an official fireworks display to commemorate Independence Day, and area cities and towns are no exception.

Friday night, the skies of Southeast Missouri will be lit up with a barrage of rockets, pinwheels, bombettes, comets, salutes, strobes, flares and fountains.

Some of the more elaborate pyrotechnic displays are in Jackson, Perryville, Chaffee, Oran and Cape Girardeau, where the Great American Fourth of July Fireworks on the River celebration will take place.

Cape Girardeau

The Jerry Ford Patriotic Band will open an 8 p.m. Friday program downtown on Spanish Street near the Common Pleas Courthouse steps, and the Southeast Missourian Spirit of America Award will be presented at 8:30 p.m., followed by recognition of several area military service personnel. After taps, at approximately 9:15 p.m., the fireworks will start.

Turnt Up’s Tommy Selsor serves during the mud volleyball tournament at Jackson’s Fourth of July celebration July 4 at Jackson City Park. (Southeast Missourian file)

After fireworks displays in Arena Park since 2009, the display has returned to the waterfront, and the rockets and mortars will be shot from a barge anchored in the Mississippi River.

To prepare for the expected crowds, police will close Water, Themis and Spanish streets to vehicular traffic in the area beginning at 6 p.m.; Broadway and Main Street will remain open to vehicular traffic. Parking will be available at the Show Me Center, with free shuttle service running from 7 to 11 p.m. between the parking lot and the intersection of Broadway and Main Street. It is expected that most downtown restaurants and bars will be open.

In the event of inclement weather, the fireworks show will be postponed to Saturday night.

Spectators are advised to bring lawn chairs or blankets; while small coolers are welcomed, alcoholic beverages and glass containers aren't permitted. Personal fireworks are forbidden.

Jackson

In Jackson City Park, the first round of a two-day, city-sponsored program will culminate with a 9:30 p.m. Friday fireworks show by Liberty Pyrotechnics of Joplin, Missouri, which will shoot the fireworks from cannons on the east side of Rotary Lake.

A full roster of weekend events in celebration of the Jackson bicentennial appeared in the June 27 and 28 edition of the Southeast Missourian, and may be found at semissourian.com/story/2095931.html.

Perryville

Perryville fireworks committee member Beth Guth said JRDigital Sound will entertain with music in Perryville City Park, where the American Legion Color Guard will post the colors at 7 p.m.

Guth said a number of service and veterans' organizations and individuals have joined the Perryville Rotary Club to sponsor the observance and fireworks show by DCV Imports of Lincoln, Illinois.

She said the city's concessions cart will be available.

Chaffee and Oran

At Harmon Field in Chaffee, free admission will be offered at the swimming pool and a pageant will begin at 1 p.m., and a hot dog eating contest at 5 p.m.

The Dixieland Band will play at 6 p.m., and a "Harmon Field Through the Years" photo contest will be staged, a news release said.

The Oran Picnic will include a buffet dinner from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the fairgrounds, where horseshoe and washer tournaments will be at 1 and 3 p.m. Bingo will start at 7 p.m. in the Knights of Columbus Hall, according to information provided by advertising chairman Terry Seyer.

Along with a display of antique tractors, there will be entertainment by Classy Chassy at 3 and 6 p.m. and the Justin Heskett Band at 10 p.m., just after the Oran fireworks show. Western wagon rides will be given from noon to 6 p.m.