Troy Old Fashioned 4th of July

Across the tracks to Roosevelt Park

The way to the celebration crosses the BNSF railroad tracks at the only crossing in downtown Troy. Beyond them lies Roosevelt Park, on the Kootenai River near the Troy Bridge. On ordinary days residents walk, picnic and fish there. The park holds a boat launch, a pavilion, two baseball fields, soccer fields, a children’s fishing pond, a water play area, a skate park and a yurt on the riverbank that visitors can rent. On the Fourth the lawn fills with food booths, craft vendors, a beer garden and rows of parked hot rods. Troy’s population is 950. The Troy Chamber of Commerce puts the crowd for the day at more than 6,000, and admission is free.

Dogs, bicycles, skateboards, personal fireworks and outside alcohol are not allowed in the park. After the parade a bus runs between Morrison Elementary, Troy High School, the Troy Activity Center and the park.

The chamber has described the event as 100 percent volunteer-run, hosted with the City of Troy. On September 15, 2026, the chamber announced that it was handing leadership of the celebration to the Troy Community Volunteer Organization, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose officers are the chamber’s own officers. The chamber wrote that the change places “the future of the celebration squarely in the hands of the local volunteers who love it most.”

From the color run to the 11 p.m. fireworks

The 2026 celebration marked the 250th birthday of the United States, and it ran two days. It opened on Friday, July 3, at 4 p.m., with Hucklebear and Joe Martinez performing.

Saturday, July 4, began at Troy High School. Registration for the Parent Teacher Association Color Run opened at 7:30 a.m., and the run started at 8. An old-fashioned breakfast was served in Roosevelt Park from 8 to 11. In 2024 the breakfast began at 9 and was hosted by the Phillip and Chera Cole family. Church services were held at 9 at the football field.

The parade started at 11 a.m. The 2024 listing says it “runs right down the highway.” A photograph in The Western News shows the Troy Volunteer Department’s Ol No. 1 in the 2025 parade, with a caption saying it would not be a Troy July 4 parade without it.

At noon the Cruisers Car Show opened in the park. The 2024 listing describes classic cars and hot rods presented by Troy Cruisers on the lawn. Artists and informational booths were set up alongside the vendors, and the Information Booth sold that year’s T-shirts. Musicians played through the day. At 7 p.m. came the act The Western News calls the Shauney Fisher Band; the tourism listings print the name as “Shauney Fisher Bank.”

Lincoln County’s festival page lists further attractions for the day: theater performances, concerts, art and quilting, and a folf tournament.

The fireworks began at about 11 p.m. The chamber calls the show the largest in the region and “a fireworks display that cannot be beat.” The county describes it going up “over the backdrop of the beautiful mountains.”

An auto parade in 1916

The chamber and The Montanian both say the celebration began more than 100 years ago. Lincoln County calls it “a 100 year old tradition.”

The town itself was filed in 1892 around a Great Northern division yard. The City of Troy’s history page records the town’s growth in the years before the parade:

• 1912: The first caravan of tourists arrived by automobile, and a bridge was built across the Kootenai.
• 1915: The town’s first auto garage, the City Garage, opened. In March the Troy Volunteer Fire Department became active, and by September it had a chemical engine. In July residents voted to incorporate. That year the population was 350, and Highway 2, the Teddy Roosevelt Highway, was completed.
• June 1916: The fire department ordered a new 500-pound bell.

The next entry is dated July 4, 1916. It reads: “The 4th of July Parade was an auto parade.”