Boulder City Damboree

Just before 7 a.m. on July 4, 2026, Diane Conrad stood at the head of a line that stretched the length of Bicentennial Park, at 1100 Colorado Street. She says she is first in line for the pancake breakfast every year. “I love America,” Conrad said. “I love Boulder City. It’s the best place to live.”

The Damboree is Boulder City’s Fourth of July. It runs from breakfast to fireworks and moves across three parks and a mile or so of downtown street. The local nonprofit Damboree Committee hosts it with help from the city. The 2026 edition was the 78th annual, and it fell on the nation’s 250th birthday.

Pancakes in Bicentennial Park

The Rotary Club of Boulder City runs the breakfast from 7 to 9 a.m. In 2023 it was free and served pancakes, sausage, juices, water and coffee. That year the Boulder City Review gave its address as 999 Colorado Street. Christy Springgate-Hill, then the club’s most recent past president, told the Review in 2015 that 900 to 1,000 people were expected. She also explained when it ends: “We go until the parade starts or until we run out of batter, whichever comes first.”

“It’s become one of those traditions that no one wants to let go of,” she said. “Lots of families meet each other there because they split up throughout the day.”

Politicians often work the griddle. In 2026, Attorney General Aaron Ford and Congresswoman Dina Titus served pancakes, and Ford joked about how many pancakes a man wanted. Ford said he had been coming for a decade. The same morning, the Bicentennial Gazebo Bandstand in the park was recognized in its 50th year. It was dedicated on July 4, 1976.

Down Nevada Way to the pool

At 9 a.m. planes of the Boulder City Veterans Flying Group pass over the route trailing smoke, and the first parade unit steps off. The parade starts at Colorado Street by the post office, runs south on Nevada Way, turns onto Fifth Street, and ends at Broadbent Memorial Park at Avenue B and Sixth Street, in front of the Boulder City Swimming Pool. In 2015 the Review called it an hourlong parade.

Barbara Agostini, who helps organize the celebration, counted just over 100 entrants in 2026. They included politicians, local businesses, student groups and veterans’ organizations. Review-Journal photographers recorded some of them that morning:

• Zelzah Shriners greeting the curb on Nevada Way.
• An inflatable eagle leading the Boulder Dam Credit Union down Fifth Street.
• The Boulder City High School class of 1986 waving from a float.
• A man in a blow-up duck suit handing out candy for Hot Tub Liquidators.
• A Downtown Dental tractor driver stopping to hug a friend.

Governor Joe Lombardo rode in a classic red Pontiac convertible. Pam Walters and Annette Restivo, longtime friends, watched from Nevada Way, as they have for many years.

The 2026 parade had many grand marshals. Two came with stories. One was Caz Kusak, a Damboree hometown favorite, who died in June 2026 at 76; the parade held his place in memoriam. The other was Seven, a puppy that was beaten, kicked and left for dead. The Aspey family adopted him in 2024 after his story spread online.

Agostini was also a grand marshal. When she moved to Boulder City in 1997, the parade blocked her route through town. “(I hope people) have a good time and remember that this is America’s 250th birthday,” she said in 2026. “If it wasn’t for everyone fighting for us, we wouldn’t have us.”

The 2026 parade was also streamed worldwide on EarthCam as one of 250 cities marking 250 years.

The water zone on Avenue B

Entries are split into two groups. Dry entries go first. Entries that want water play go at the end. When the second group reaches the water zone, the crowd and the floats turn water guns on each other.

City documents place the zone from Avenue A along Fifth Street to Avenue B, then down Avenue B past the pool to Sixth Street. The Review placed its start at Fifth Street and Aztec Drive in 2026.

Victor Nunez got up at 4 a.m. that day to claim a stretch of sidewalk. He laid out water guns and shallow buckets for his family. “The parade means everything for us,” he said. Boulder City Little League players fired from their entry. The Buff Cleaning Boys took water to the face and fired back. Spectators lined Avenue B behind steel barricades.

The rules set the terms:

• An entrant may soak a spectator only after the spectator has made the first move.
• Riders stay on their floats.
• Water balloons, pressure washers and high-pressure nozzles are barred.
• No water play is allowed on the route before Avenue A.

The entry packet still warns that “you, your passengers, and your vehicle may get wet, even in the non-water zone.”

The water zone is younger than the parade. In a 2026 letter to the Review, the committee wrote that the parade “only started allowing a water zone in the late 1990s.” It added that “steel crowd control barriers were introduced in the water zone after a child was hit by a vehicle while participating in water play in the street.” Water balloons were banned some years earlier. Water trucks were removed from the lineup in 2020.

The letter listed recent problems:

• Spectators climbing over the barricades.
• A classic car in the dry section damaged by water-soakers.
• Pressure washers used along the route.
• Chairs and coolers set out two days early.
• Uniformed police officers targeted with water.

Organizers warned that the zone may be discontinued unless behavior changes. In 2026, shade structures and chairs could not go up along the route before 5 a.m. on July 4.

Broadbent Park and the coin toss

The parade ends at Broadbent Park. Boulder City nonprofits run games, food stands and a beer wagon there, and in 2023 some sold confetti eggs. At 11 a.m. children dive for cash in the coin toss at the pool. In 2026 admission was $2 for those under 18. Parks and Recreation games followed at noon. In 2015 the program included potato sack races, tug of war, live bands and trophies for parade winners.

At 1 p.m. in 2026, the American Legion raised a 49-star flag at the World War II and Korean War Monument in the park. That was the number of stars in 1959, when then-Governor Grant Sawyer dedicated the monument on July 4. The week before, City Council had recommended the monument and flagpole for the Boulder City Historic Property Register.

Fireworks over Buchanan Boulevard

At 4 p.m. the crowd moves to Veterans Memorial Park at 1650 Buchanan Boulevard. Cars pay $20 to park. In 2023 the park held about 1,000 vehicles, and parking money went toward the next year’s fireworks along with donations.

The splash pad runs, food trucks park along the grass, and families spread blankets and set out chairs. DJ Mike Pacini emcees from 5 p.m. He plays music, performs magic and fires T-shirts into the crowd from a cannon. Committee spokesperson Dawn Green said in 2021, “During the fireworks his music will change to patriotic hits.”

The fireworks start at 9 p.m. In 2023 the show ran at least 30 minutes and cost more than $30,000. For 2026, committee member Roger Hall said extra funds had been added “to provide a better fireworks show.” Music and dancing follow the show. Since 2014 the city has closed the Eldorado Valley Dry Lake Bed from July 3 to July 5.

The day has not always been laid out this way. In 2021 the Fourth fell on a Sunday, so the parade ran Saturday, July 3, and the evening events followed Sunday. That year the committee sponsored nothing at Broadbent Park. Parking was $10, and the evening program added a rock climbing wall and a bungee ride.

Post 31 and a $25 gift

The Elks Lodge once ran the Damboree, and a volunteer committee has run it in recent years. It began with the American Legion. On July 21, 1949, Commander Mort Wagner wrote to the Elks:

“Boulder City Post 31, the American Legion, sincerely appreciates your friendly spirit of assistance and cooperation in helping American Legion with the first annual Boulder Damboree July 2, 3, 4. Your contribution of $25 toward the purchase of fireworks for the community celebration assisted us greatly and we are grateful for your support.”

In 2015 Roger Hall, then committee chairman, called Boulder City’s Fourth of July parade the oldest parade in the state’s history. “It’s typical small-town,” he said, “and you don’t find that in Las Vegas or the other bigger cities.”

Mayor Joe Hardy said in 2026: “This is the place for the Fourth of July.”