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Editor’s note: Organizers announced on July 2 that the 2024 Pleasanton Fourth of July celebration would be canceled due to the heat wave in the Tri-Valley that week. The original preview story for the event remains intact as originally published below.
A snapshot of scene at Fourth of July event last year. The 2024 celebration returns to downtown Pleasanton on Thursday. (Photo by Chuck Deckert) 
A snapshot of scene at Fourth of July event last year. The 2024 celebration returns to downtown Pleasanton on Thursday. (Photo by Chuck Deckert) 
The Pleasanton Community Concert Band performs in the 2023 Fourth of July event. (Photo by Chuck Deckert) 
A snapshot of scene at Fourth of July event last year. The 2024 celebration returns to downtown Pleasanton on Thursday. (Photo by Chuck Deckert) 
Pleasanton Mayor Karla Brown speaks at the 2023 Fourth of July celebration. (Photo by Chuck Deckert) 
A snapshot of scene at Fourth of July event last year. The 2024 celebration returns to downtown Pleasanton on Thursday. (Photo by Chuck Deckert) 
A snapshot of scene at Fourth of July event last year. The 2024 celebration returns to downtown Pleasanton on Thursday. (Photo by Chuck Deckert) 
Mark Aubel takes the baton for the Pleasanton Community Concert Band at the 2023 Independence Day event. (Photo by Chuck Deckert) 
W. Ron Sutton addresses the crowd at the 2023 Independence Day celebration in Pleasanton. (Photo by Chuck Deckert)
There will be red, white and blue aplenty downtown when Pleasanton comes together to commemorate America’s birthday next week with the community’s annual Fourth of July afternoon festivities.
With the recurring theme of “Celebrating Freedom and its Evolution since the Revolution” and organized again by the Make a Difference, Today & Always foundation, the Independence Day event next Thursday will center around the Pleasanton Community Concert Band performance, the Pleasanton Lions Club picnic lunch and other patriotic offerings.
Founder W. Ron Sutton reflected on the 24th celebration put on by his organization with his familiar message about casting aside individual differences to join and embrace “our shared heritage with an old-fashioned Fourth.”
“Even if we disagree July 5 on current politics, we will do so with our expected behaviors of respect, responsibility, compassion, honesty and integrity. We celebrate living in a Community of Character,” Sutton said in a press release this month, echoing Pleasanton’s adopted motto.
The free concert at Lions Wayside Park will feature the Pleasanton Community Concert Band, led by conductor Mark Aubel, will play a range of patriotic music, including a “Star-Spangled Singalong” and an armed forces salute with the anthems of each military branch, organizers said.
With attendees encouraged to wear the national colors, the first 300 adults to arrive will be given a free hand-held American flag courtesy of the Lions Club. Organizers urge audience members to bring their own blankets or chairs for comfortable viewing, and remind that the Lions Club will offer its traditional lunch of hot dog, chips and water for $3 per person.
Guided by emcees Les Duman and Herb Ritter, the ceremony will include the presentation of the colors, opening remarks by Pleasanton Mayor Karla Brown, a special reading by Pleasanton teen poet laureate Ishmeet Dhillon, Sutton speaking on “a discourse on 1789” and a eulogy remembering late Pleasanton veteran Chris Miller.
The celebration will also recognize the 2024 Ed Kinney Community Patriots — Bill Butler and Lisa and Randy Brown. The annual award program is named after Kinney, a past mayor of Pleasanton and the first master of ceremonies for the Fourth of July event.
A children’s parade will be part of the finale, walking to the band’s performance of John Philip Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever”.
The all-volunteer event — with the foundation and the Lions supported by American Legion Post No. 237, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 6298 and Boy Scouts Troop No. 908 — is scheduled to run from 12-1:30 p.m. Thursday (July 4) at Lions Wayside Park on First Street in downtown Pleasanton.
