Revelers have a blast

Freedom is a water gun shootout on the Fourth of July.

"This is good times," said Vaughn Stewart, 30, of Las Vegas, as he sprayed water on children and adults in a collective dousing on the streets of Boulder City.

The splatter of water was the highly anticipated finale to the 60th annual Damboree Parade in Boulder City as parade watchers came with guns and ammunition so they could return "fire" from passing floats.

"We brought five tanks of water with us," said Kim Shaffer, 29, of Henderson. The tanks included plastic coolers and a yellow mop bucket.

The water felt refreshing in the heat, but participants also noted that a cool breeze helped to make this year's parade bearable.

Rick Hanson, who was guarding a small wading pool of water, said getting wet was better than getting treats from clowns and politicians. "When the water zone starts, no one cares about the candy," he said.

The water zone was limited to the parade's last few minutes and the last few blocks of the route. Floats were given a chance to divert from the path if drivers didn't want to get drenched. Some floats took extra precautions, such as the Hoover Hatters, who carried a "No water, please" sign.

"The water fight is the best part, but it keeps getting smaller each year. Less people want to get hosed, I guess," said Megan Olson, a parade volunteer.

The Damboree was one of several events held throughout the valley to celebrate the Fourth, which appeared to be heading into a relatively quiet night for local firefighters. At 9:30 p.m., several professional fireworks shows began lighting the skies, but before then fire officials said things were reasonably calm.

"We're on track to have a normal night -- at least in the city of Las Vegas," said Tim Szymanski, spokesman for the Las Vegas Fire Department.

The most serious incident came Thursday night, when fireworks ignited a fire that burned two acres on the shore of Lake Mohave.

Firefighters from the National Park Service and employees of the Cottonwood Cove Marina extinguished the fire by 1:30 a.m. Friday. No structures were threatened, and no one was injured.

Investigators are still looking into who shot off the fireworks in Opal Cove, which is about five miles north of Cottonwood Cove, said Roxanne Dey, spokeswoman for the Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

Responders used firefight-ing boats to reach the blaze because Opal Cove isn't accessible by road, Dey said. It's not unusual for park fire crews to deal with remote fires: A couple of years ago, firefighters had to hike for an hour to reach a blaze.

"In this heat, with all of the clothes and equipment that they have, it's unfortunate that they have to do that," she said.

"When it's a lightning strike that starts the fire, there's nothing we can do about that. When people do it, that's another story."

Back in Boulder City, parade participants said the Damboree was a good mix of the silly and solemn for the nation's birthday.

Howard Tangler, for instance, came to the parade with a red, white and blue necktie hanging from his head like Goofy ears. Someone told Tangler that "I looked like I tied one on," he said.

But as a member of a religion that is persecuted in other countries, Tangler also came to celebrate his freedom. His religious group, the Baha'i of Boulder City, entered a float with a globe and a sign that said, "The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens."

The Rotary Club of Boulder City got the party started Friday morning with a pancake breakfast fundraiser for drunken driving awareness and other community projects, said club president Larry Smith.

The Rotarians served 900 plates of pancake as the chef used up 40 pounds of pancake mix.

They also got help from politicians. State Sen. Dina Titus, who is campaigning for Congress, served the syrup. Her opponent, U.S. Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nevada, gave out the sausages.

Rotarians said they couldn't resist some good-natured teasing, as in, "Jon, you're giving away too much pork."

Review-Journal writer Alan Choate contributed to this report. Contact reporter James Haug at jhaug@reviewjournal.com or 702-799-2922.