MISSOULA — An annual Missoula tradition will be returning this year.
The Historical Museum at Fort Missoula will once again host its 4th at the Fort Celebration on Sunday, July 4th. The event had to be called off last year amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Historical Museum and the Rocky Mountain Museum of Military History will be offering family-friendly activities to celebrate our country’s independence.
This year will feature some changes as the museum is working with the Missoula City-County Health Department “to assure for the safety of our community,” according to a news release.
There will not be a formal program or live music in 2021, but museum officials hope to bring those events back in 2022. Another change is that there will be no set admission charge this year and instead the museum is asking for donations.
The donations collected will support the activities of the Friends of the Historical Museum and the Rocky Mountain Museum of Military History. The festivities will begin at 10 a.m. On July 4th and will include a variety of old-fashioned fun and games.
The offerings include:
- Old-fashioned children’s games
- Food trucks & cold beer
- HAM radios demos
- Scavenger hunt (for adults, too)
- Tours of the Lookout, Schoolhouse, Drummond Depot, Trolley Barn, & Locomotive
- Historic steam-run sawmill demos
- Antique engine displays
- Historical surveying and MT genealogy
- Craft vendors
- Activity Booths hosted by various groups
- Miniature ponies
- Model Railroad displays
- Smokey the Bear will visit
The Missoula City-County Health Department’s mobile vaccine unit will also be at the event to provide Johnson & Johnson single-dose COVID-19 vaccines to Missoula County residents ages 18 and up, while residents ages 12 and up will be offered the Pfizer two-dose vaccine.
