Citizens mark July 4 independently.

Byline: Karen McCowan The Register-Guard

CORRECTION (ran 7/03/04): Live historic speech-making at Monroe Park (Monroe Street at Broadway) will begin at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday. A story on Page 16 on Friday listed an incorrect time.

Art and the Vineyard turns 21. Springfield toddles out a new tradition. The Eugene Pro Rodeo shoots off fireworks every night of the three-day weekend.

Sunday or not, two local small towns stick to their traditional Fourth of July morning parade times. Yachats serves up an old-fashioned pie social. Florence gets ducky. And a small Eugene park revives the art of live political oratory.

That's the lowdown on local Independence Day weekend highlights.

A toast to Maude

Pop open the champagne! Art and the Vineyard is no longer underage. Eugene's popular holiday celebration marks its 21st birthday this weekend.

Fittingly, the three-day event will emphasize its 16 participating wineries this year - along with a vineyard-themed centerpiece sculpture, `Goddess of the Vineyard,' by Mick Leckie. The sand-cast glass sculpture will be displayed under a metal arbor and sold to the high bidder in a silent auction that runs throughout the festival.

Art and the Vineyard, which benefits Eugene's Maude Kerns Art Center, takes place at Alton Baker Park, 100 Day Island Road. Hours today and Saturday are from 11:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.; Sunday hours are from 11:30 a.m. until the end of the Active 20-30 Club fireworks.

Admission is $5 per day or $10 for a three-day pass; children 12 and younger will be admitted free.

On Sunday only, no parking will be permitted at Alton Baker Park. For $2 you can park your vehicle at Autzen Stadium, 2700 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., and take a shuttle to the park.

Power to the people

The Springfield Utility Board launches its own July 4 tradition with its Light of Liberty celebration. The event will benefit Project Share, a utility bill assistance fund for low-income and elderly SUB customers.

The 5 p.m. event in Island Park, 200 West B St., Springfield, will feature Riders in the Sky. While best known for music in the tradition of cowboy singers Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, the band won two Grammys for its recent children's albums: "Woody's Roundup" (from "Toy Story 2') and "Monsters Inc. - Scream Factory Favorites."

The celebration will conclude with a music-synchron- ized fireworks display and local entertainment. Tickets are $4 per person, with children younger than 5 admitted free.

Picnics are welcome; food, beer and wine will be available for purchase.

Good day for a parade

Small towns may have a churchgoing reputation, but worship will take a back pew to annual parades in Creswell and Harrisburg. The Fourth falls on a Sunday this year, but neither town has opted to move its parade to a different day of the long holiday weekend.

Eugene's Norkenzie Christian Church will present Land of the Free, a 10:30 a.m. holiday celebration service at Northwest Christian College's Morse Events Center, 11th Avenue and Alder Street. The service will feature patriotic songs and hymns.

In Oakridge, churchgoers can combine their community celebration and worship: The ministerial association is sponsoring a 10:30 a.m. Community Fourth of July Celebration at the high school football field, 47977 W. First St.

Meanwhile, at the Circle Bar Golf Club, 48447 Westoak Road, Westfir, the Oakridge-Westfir community celebration begins with a golf scramble at 9 a.m. and includes children's games and craft and food vendors all day. Bingo and card games start at 1 p.m., an old-time fiddler will play at 4 p.m. and a live music takes the stage at 5:30 p.m. Fireworks fly over the fairways at dusk.

Harrisburg's 50th annual Old Fashioned Fourth parade begins at 11 a.m. It's part of a daylong celebration that begins with a 6 a.m.-to-10:30 a.m. pancake breakfast at the fire station, 500 Smith St., and continues into the evening with live music by the local Knox Brothers. At dusk, it's fireworks along the Willamette River.

Creswell's 14th Independence Day celebration also begins with breakfast from 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., followed by an 11 a.m. parade. Afternoon activities include live entertainment, childrens' games and fire hose at Creswell City Park, followed by a fireworks display at the high school football field, 33390 Nieblock Lane.

Big bang theory

The Eugene Pro Rodeo is the frequent flier of local fireworks displays, shooting off pyrotechnics tonight, Saturday and Sunday.

The annual rodeo begins with a full range of National Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association events at 7:30 tonight and Saturday. Sunday's Fourth of July Firecracker Bullride will feature 30 to 40 cowboys vying in that event.

Gates open at 5 p.m. all three nights at the Oregon Horse Center, 90751 Prairie Road. General admission is $14.50 for adults and $8 for kids ages 6 to 12, with children 5 and younger admitted free.

The area's best short-but- sweet display is always the Eugene Emeralds' fireworks show Civic Stadium, 2077 Willamette St. The Ems are away on the Fourth of July this year, so their brief blitzkrieg is scheduled Saturday, immediately after the 6:35 p.m. game with Salem-Keizer.

Going coastal this Independence Day? Florence has Fireworks on the River in Old Town on Sunday. The pyrotechnics will be preceded by a Habitat for Humanity barbecue from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., accompanied by a barbershop chorus from noon to 2 p.m.

There's also a (rubber duckie) duck race at 1 p.m. on the Siuslaw in Old Town. Ducks cost $5 a piece and there are prizes for the top 25 finishers.

If Reedsport is your place to be, the fireworks show there starts at dusk over Winchester Bay.

Yachats' 10th annual la de da Parade begins at noon. The Oregon Air Guard will have a flyover at 1:30 p.m.

Food and music will be available all day around town as part of the Yachats Yamboree - including free samples of red, white and blue saltwater taffy and an 11 a.m. Pie and Ice Cream Social at the Yachats Ladies Club, 286 W. Third St. The day will close with a fireworks display over Yachats Bay.

The bay is also the place in Coos Bay, where the city will shoot off fireworks. The best viewing is from the Boardwalk and adjacent areas downtown.

Waldport's fireworks are scheduled for Saturday over Alsea Bay, so as not to compete with nearby Newport's Independence Day display.

Turning to the inland waterways, at noon Sunday down at Dexter State Park, off Highway 58, Pleasant Hill Schools will combine a fund-raiser with fireworks over the lake.

The event features barbecue, games and live music from 2 p.m. until dusk, and the cost is $10 per car.

Fiery oratory

And now for something completely different.

On the Fourth, Friends of Monroe Park revive a time-honored Independence Day tradition: live speech-making. Those living near the historic neighborhood park (Monroe Street at Broadway) invite others to their grassy square at 6 p.m., when local actors will deliver historic patriotic speeches and read from historic U.S. documents.

"We'll even have a soapbox for people to stand on and make speeches of their own," organizer Jennifer Barwood promises.

FIREWORKS FINDER

All displays begin approximately at dusk

TODAY

Eugene: Oregon Horse

Center

SATURDAY

Eugene: Oregon Horse Center, Civic Stadium

Waldport: Alsea Bay

SUNDAY

Brownsville: Pioneer Park

Coos Bay: Over the bay, across from the downtown Boardwalk

Cottage Grove: Cottage Grove Speedway

Corvallis: Willamette River riverfront

Creswell: Football field

Eugene: Alton Baker Park, Oregon Horse Center

Florence: Old Town

Harrisburg: Willamette River

Newport: Newport Bay

Oakridge: Circle Bar Golf Course

Reedsport: Winchester Bay

Springfield: Island Park

Yachats: Yachats Bay

Yoncalla: Football field