Old Fashioned Fourth of July

Booths on Highway 395

Each July, arts and crafts booths line Main Street in Bridgeport, which is also Highway 395. Much of the program gathers on the lawn of the Mono County Courthouse, built in 1880 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The county tourism office calls it the second-oldest courthouse in California in continuous use. Bridgeport is the county seat. It lies on 395 north of Mammoth Lakes and south of Lake Tahoe, backed by the jagged spires of the Sawtooth range. A local saying holds that the town has only two seasons, “fishin’ season and freezin’ season.” The Fourth falls in the first.

The Bridgeport Chamber of Commerce bills the event as Bridgeport’s 164th Old Fashioned Fourth of July Celebration. The 2026 edition ran from July 2 through July 6. Its schedule moved between the Courthouse Lawn and School Street. Kids’ fun attractions and the arts and crafts festival opened on Thursday, July 2, along with a cornhole tournament and music by The Midwatch. Friday brought a trapshoot, a book sale, team horseshoes, the first day of the ranch rodeo, a set by Aprylle Dawn, and a free concert by Jennifer Grant. Food vendors worked the fair alongside the craft sellers. For the 2026 holiday the Chamber ran a photo contest called “Bridgeport - Paint The Town Red, White and Blue,” asking visitors to pose with the town’s painted windows.

The parade and the grease pole

The Fourth itself opened with a pancake breakfast put on by the Mono County Historical Society. The CHS Boosters held a five-mile run and three-mile walk. The 2026 parade theme was “250 Years of Freedom - Small Town Big Pride.” According to the county, the parade is put together by local businesses, law enforcement, ranchers, and other members of the community. Hunewill Guest Ranch sends its week-long guests down the route on horseback and calls it “one of the oldest parades in the US.” Afterward the ranch holds a barbecue for its guests.

The afternoon schedule is a run of contests. There was a karaoke sing-along and the parade awards. Children aged 3 to 10 hunted for money in a haystack. The program also listed a watermelon-eating contest, arm wrestling, and a grease-pole climb with an age limit of 11. A “Mud Cup” volleyball game was played at Willow Springs Resort, and Owen Davis played music. The fireworks went up at dark. One account places them lakeside, and a county photograph shows them over Bridgeport Reservoir. Hunewill Ranch describes them seen “against the silhouette of the rugged Sierra.” The Chamber says each year’s event and fireworks are paid for with donations.

Sunday, July 5, began with church services, and the crafts, kids’ attractions, and book sale continued. A note at the foot of the 2026 schedule said “Safe and Sane Fireworks” would be sold on School Street, depending on fire conditions as determined by the Bridgeport Fire Department.

Roping at the north end of town

The Bridgeport Ranch Rodeo takes place at the historic rodeo grounds on the north end of town. The 2026 schedule listed it on Friday and Saturday under the names of the Bridgeport Gun Club and Centennial Ranch. The county’s 2025 description lists the events as team roping, branding, ranch sorting, and other stock-handling work done by local cowboys and cowgirls. Gates open mid-morning. The grounds have bleacher seating, barbecue, cold drinks, and a short row of vendors. Cowboy poetry is also part of the holiday program. In the park, the Mono County Museum and Visitor Center offers local history and travel advice during the festivities. Its displays cover the region’s Native American, mining, and ranching heritage.

Since 1862, by one count

Eastern Sierra Adventures dates the celebration to 1862 and calls it a three-day tradition. The county’s tourism pages describe it in rounder figures. One says the event has gone on for over 150 years, and a 2025 post says more than 160. The Chamber’s own page says only that the tradition “has been carried down from Generation to Generation.”

In the spring of 2020, stay-at-home orders were in place, and the Town of Mammoth Lakes cancelled its parade and fireworks. The Mammoth Lakes paper The Sheet asked Bridgeport what it would do. Linda Pemberton sat on both the Chamber and the Fourth of July Planning Committee. “We are still planning on having it,” she said. “Hopefully we can have it but we are currently still planning ours.” She explained what was at stake: “This little Town depends on the Fourth of July celebration. It brings in about 6,000-8,000 people a year.” In other years, vendors stood all the way down Main Street. That spring she said, “We are going to have dispersed events all around town instead of in one place.” Asked about Mammoth’s cancellation, Pemberton said, “Seemed kinda early,” and left it there.

Hunewill Guest Ranch has already posted its 2027 week, July 2 through 9. Guests arrive on a Friday afternoon and ride in the 165th Bridgeport parade on the Saturday.