Happy Birthday, America!: A Guide to Shelby County's 4th of July Celebrations

• When: 6/19 from 5 to 9 PM (CARNIVAL ONLY), 6/20 from 5 to 9 PM (Festival)
• Where: Vincent Municipal Park

Decked out with hot air balloon rides, a carnival, and fireworks, this 250^th Birthday celebration in Vincent is sure to entertain and please the whole family. Grab a bite from one of the food trucks and watch Vincent come to life to celebrate the forthcoming 4^th of July holiday. You can consider this event your unmissable warm-up for all of the events in store in the following weekends. Purchase wristbands at the event for $25, or pre-purchase your wristbands at Vincent City Hall for $20.

• When: 6/26 from 5 PM to 8 PM, 6/27 from 8 AM to 10 PM
• Where: Main Street and Old Mill Square Park

Columbiana’s forty-year-old, two-day Liberty Day Festival stands firm as one of Columbiana’s favorite traditions, and it is sure to become one of yours, too! On Friday, enjoy the street vendors and food trucks while you watch the evening’s live headliner, The Shimmer Band. Get some good rest for the day ahead of you on Saturday, which is packed with a 5K, parade, car show, live music lineup, and, of course, lots of fireworks. For the younger celebrators, a kids activities area with bounce houses and water slides will let your kiddo join in on the fun. Free parking at the Courthouse and Tax Office and shuttles will be on routes throughout the day to assist with transportation. Admission into this event is entirely free to the public!

Chelsea takes great pride in this event, and for good reason! Boasting one of the largest fireworks show in the entire state of Alabama, ChelseaFest and The Big Kaboom is the place to go this patriotic season for live music, great food, and classic Chelsea Southern hospitality. This year’s headliners are The Vinyl Junkies, a band that has performed with hit artists like Darius Rucker and Lady A! While The Vinyl Junkies rock the stage, get dinner from one of the 24 food vendors and 41 business vendors. Your little ones can even run off their energy in the Kids’ Zone, fit with inflatable houses and slides, before you all take a seat and marvel in the spectacle of the Big Kaboom! If you or loved ones are visiting ChelseaFest from out of town, check out ChelseaFest’s exclusive discounted hotel rates so you can make the best of the holiday without hurting your wallet!

• When: 7/3, 4 to 9:30 PM
• Where: Double Oak Lake (Oak Mountain State Park)

Oak Mountain State Park’s Fire on the Water event will be sure to keep your family cool and refreshed, as well as festive! We encourage you to take advantage of Double Oak Lake while you wait for the fireworks to start. Bring or rent out a paddle board, bring a picnic to eat by the beach, or take in Oak Mountain’s natural beauty while you enjoy a bite to eat from local vendors. While you can, of course, enjoy the amenities of the park at any time of day, discounted entry rates for Fire on the Water will begin at 4 PM. If you haven’t yet gotten your family out to one of our State Parks this summer, Fire on the Water is the time to do it! To get tickets, you must purchase them beforehand and SAVE YOUR RECEIPT (either printed or on your phone) to be allowed entry. Note that the entry gates to the park close at 7 PM.

• When: 7/3, 6 to 10 PM
• Where: Calera Courtyard

This summer series from the city of Calera is always one of the highlights of a Shelby County summer. On the first Friday of every month of summer (May through August), Calera Courtyard hosts a series of ""First Friday" events aimed at bringing together our local community and tapping into the local businesses and vendors that make our home what so special. To ensure that you don’t miss out on any more First Friday celebrations, click here to find Calera Courtyard’s official schedule of events!

• When: 7/3 from 5 to 10 PM
• Where: Helena Amphitheatre

It’s time to dust off your lawn chairs and picnic blankets! Check out Fourth of July edition of another summer series, this time in Helena! One of the largest summer concert series of the county, Helena Old Town Live is always bringing talent, new and old, to our community. Helena Old Town is commemorating the patriotic season with a night of food trucks, street vendors, and live music! Check out the performers, North Mississippi Allstars and Jesse Crow & The Unrest, and get a real taste of the charming Old Town Helena ambiance. At Helena Old Town Live, you can celebrate the independence of our country by experiencing what makes the Southeast a central hub of American music culture!

• When: 6 AM (Peavine Trails Run), 7 PM (Shiner Ridge Revival Run)
• Where: Oak Mountain State Park

Wake up bright and early on the morning of the Fourth and run this iconic race in Oak Mountain State Park. The Peavine Falls Run, a tradition of 45 years, is set on an iconic course and will be the perfect way for any runner to start their Independence Day! Signing up before July 2^nd ensures that you will not have to pay an up-charged registration fee! Registration packet pick-up on Race Day starts at 6 AM, so if you want to save yourself some extra minutes of shut-eye the morning of the race, pick up your registration packet up at TrimTab Brewing on the 2^nd from 4 to 7 PM, so you’ll be ready at 6:30 when the first racing heat begins! This is going to be the best Independence Day celebration for anyone who wants to burn off the calories of those hot dogs you’re going to chow down on later.

For any of the later risers out there, Oak Mountain State Park’s got a race option for you as well! The Shiner Ridge Revival Run is named after the history of moonshine brewers who, during the Prohibition Era, took to Double Oak Mountain to sell their products! Now, racers can run 7.4 miles of these historic trails before reaching the finish line at the top of King’s Chair, where you and your fellow racers will get to celebrate your feat by watching the sun set over the county. There really is no sight like it. To make sure you can participate in the run and secure your swag, register here! 2026 is the final year this race will be held, so don’t let yourself miss out!

• When: 7/3 and 7/4 from 11:00 AM to 10:30 PM
• Where: American Village

If you’re going to attend any Independence Day celebration, let it be this one. American Village, one of Shelby County’s primary landmarks, sets the perfect scene for celebrating our country’s 250 years of independence. If you’ve visited American Village, you might think you’ve seen everything there is to see, but for Sweet Home 250, the Village is transforming into the county’s biggest and best Fourth of July celebration. The weekend will be packed with exciting, family-friendly events, such as 18 live musical acts (including local legends like Act of Congress and Taylor Hicks), a specially-curated Sweet Home 250 Celebrity Kitchen (and eating contests emceed by local radio personality Rick Burgess), an all-star stunt dog show, and special guest speakers and performers here to remind all of us the reasons why we get to celebrate under the sun together. Capping off each night with a firework show, Sweet Home 250 will prove to be an event that will have you thinking, “I wish America turned 250 years old every year.” Discover Shelby’s even got discounted lodging rates for you. General Admissions tickets start at $20, while VIP tickets (giving you access to the VIP parking, entrances/exits, lounge, and festival seating) start at $250, so make sure to get your hands on your tickets and begin planning how you’re going to spend your time in American Village this holiday weekend. Because there will be so much to do, there’s no way to go wrong at Sweet Home 250!