LEHI -- A pioneer tradition will roust residents in Lehi out of bed on the Fourth of July with sounds of cannon fire throughout the city. A concert and fireworks show will close the celebration after nightfall.

The fireworks show is sponsored by Lehi City, and Thanksgiving Point provides the venue at its Electric Park. There will be a concert featuring Crescent Superband, concessions and plenty of fireworks. Gates open at 6 p.m. and admission is free.

Fireworks at the end of the holiday are a common practice, but newcomers may wonder if the city is under attack at 6 a.m. when sounds of the thunder echo across the community. More experienced residents may simply smile and go back to sleep.

"I think they are a wonderful tradition, they have been going on forever," said Galynn Donovan of Lehi. "Salutes are not only common to this area, they have been done for centuries to celebrate in other countries and in our own."

Since the early 1900s, the Lehi firefighters have greeted every Independence Day at or near sunrise by setting off a series of 12 to 15 loud explosions, called salutes, throughout the city. The event is generally believed by longtime residents to honor a tradition that may have begun by city pioneers in 1876, the country's centennial.

"It has been a tradition for as long as I can remember. Every morning you would hear that. To me it's the sound of freedom," said Councilman Johnny Barnes. "A lot of people hear the howitzers out of Camp Williams and complain, but to me that is the sound of freedom."

He said he remembers waking up as a little kid and thinking it was a great way to celebrate the holiday.

The city boundaries have expanded since the initial years and firefighters have had to increase the number of salutes slightly to 15-20 to cover a larger area. The salutes sound off at regular intervals for about 25-35 minutes. Few, if any, residents complain.

Fire Chief Dale Ekins said the tradition is not meant to scare little kids. He sees it as an opportunity to share the country's as well as the city's history and traditions with others.

"We do this to commemorate our freedom and the whole Fourth of July bit," Ekins said. "We have a few that have kind of got uptight; most people are understanding."

The firefighters will have something else aside from the holiday to sound off about -- a new fire station will be online. Officially opened on July 1, the addition of a full-time force in north Lehi will make the fireworks show at Thanksgiving Point easier to manage for the fire department.

"It was awful nice to be able to answer calls and not have to call American Fork or Saratoga Springs to come help us when we have multiple calls," Ekins said of the July 1 emergency call-outs. There will be part-time firefighters at Thanksgiving Point with brush trucks and an ambulance for the fireworks show and concert, while full-time firefighters will man the downtown and north Lehi fire stations.

• Cathy Allred can be reached at heraldextra@digis.net.

Fireworks show

Crescent Superband Concert

Electric Park, Thanksgiving Point

3003 N. Thanksgiving Way, Lehi

Gates open at 6 p.m., fireworks begin at 10 p.m.

Admission is free

Tradition

In 1876, the town of approximately 1,200 observed Independence Day by firing 100 guns in honor of the number of years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

For a climactic finish, an anvil was fired by lighting a charge of black powder under it, causing a "clap like thunder."

Ten years later it is also recorded that those first settlers celebrated the Fourth of July by firing a cannon in the early morning hours and unfurling the United States flag with the accompaniment of brass and string bands. In 1903, a 13-gun salute was fired at dawn with a 45-gun salute at sunrise.