The City of Leighton will hold their Independence Day festivities on Friday, June 27th.

The celebration for the town has taken place on the Friday before the 4th of July for several years. Activities begin at 5 pm Friday night, with food, games, a parade, adult softball, and more being held throughout the town and fireworks are scheduled to start at 10 pm. The KNIA/KRLS Lil’ Big Red Radio begins its journey across 4th of July celebrations as well. Derek Van Kooten with the Leighton Independence Day Celebration says that while many activities will be similar to previous years, the adult softball will be different this year.

“So in the past, it’s just been at 8:30 pm we’ve played the softball game and anybody who wants to play can just walk up and play. Well, in the past few years we’ve gotten so much interest in that and so many people playing that we wanted to kind of organize it a little bit so more people have the opportunity to play. And so what we did is we split it into two different games, followed by a championship game. So, the first game starts at 5 pm, and the second game starts at 6:15 pm.”

The deadline to sign up for the softball games is Friday, and those wanting to participate can sign up through the Leighton Events and Community Facebook page, the Leighton Post Office, or the Leighton State Bank branch in Leighton. Hear more about the City of Leighton’s Independence Day festivities from Derek Van Kooten on an upcoming Let’s Talk Pella.