Alisandra Denton bears aloft a torch as she portrays Lady Liberty in the Hood River July Fourth parade. Denton’s authentic costume, complete with body paint, was among the more challenging considering that temperatures reached the high 80s during the parade.

By KIRBY NEUMANN-REA
News editor
July 6, 2007

All the ingredients were there for festive July Fourth celebrations Wednesday in Hood River County.

Crowds gathered on the Hood River waterfront and throughout downtown for the Eye Opener Lions’ 30th annual pyrotechnical extravaganza, which included a lengthy and rousing grand finale.

Cascade Locks residents gathered at the downtown Marine Park for that community’s fireworks show.

Earlier in the day, the Hood River and Odell communities lined the streets to greet neighbors aboard floats, bikes, horses, carts, convertibles, fire trucks, unicycles and scooters — conveyed by foot power, horses, goats, gasoline or electric power.

At Hood River’s Jackson Park, the Gorge Winds Band and White Salmon Jazz Band sat for hours in the heat, trumpets, trombones, drums and guitars at lips or in hand, entertaining a shade-clinging crowd around the park lawn.