YALE, Iowa, July 2, 2010 – If you are on the Raccoon River Valley Trail this weekend, and want to experience a classic small-town celebration of American independence, ride into this RRVT town on Sunday.  You’ll see the population swollen from the normal 287 to more than 5,000 as people come from far and wide for the best 4th of July celebration in the area.

As we browse the line-up of fun, we note the 11 a.m. parade — it’s a huge one — and we see a variety of food and entertainment available.  Four other things we think you should know:

– At 1 p.m. in the Yale “round gym,” which is partially renovated and should be a movie set for some basketball story, there is a free throw contest and a 3-point shooting contest.  Look around that gym: We think it’s very important as a venue of future events that will attract lots of RRVT users.

– There’s a pie contest at Just Ethel’s cafe at 3 p.m. in the afternoon.  And they’re being auctioned off at 5 p.m.

– Drop by the Windsor Hotel, where owner Sarah Brewster has made great progress on the renovation.  Shake her hand and give her encouragement. It’s a project that is also going to be very important to RRVT users.

– When they do fireworks at nightfall, they shoot them from the ball diamond on the west side of Yale.  We recommend watching the displays from along main street, a few blocks to the east.  Why?  Well, the massive FC grain elevator buildings are on the east edge of the town.  If you are on main street when the fireworks blow — especially the mortars — you get to hear them twice, once when they actually explode and then again when the sound echoes off the grain elevators!

For the complete schedule of events in Yale on both Saturday and Sunday, July 3 and 4, click here.