It was a grand day in Bayfield for the town’s annual Independence Day celebration on Monday. People packed the Lions Club pancake breakfast and then filled the sidewalks along Mill Street for the parade. Also before the parade was the Firecracker 5K run and family walk through downtown.

The Lions Club served 660 pancake breakfasts this year. That figure is not a record, but it is on the higher side of attendees. Next door, members of Calvary Presbyterian Church served 150 pies, ranging from cream and meringue to fruit and pecan.

Live music and activities continued in Joe Stephenson Park, with vendors, the Pine River Centennial Rotary beer garden, softball, and the town’s inaugural cornhole tournament which kept players in the park to late afternoon. The Serrano family hosted the annual horseshoe tournament in Eagle Park.

Wild Country played in the afternoon and again in the evening as spectators returned for the fireworks sponsored by First National Bank of Durango. Mack Coker from Riverside RV Park leads the set-up, shooting, and takedown of the fireworks displays at Vallecito and in Bayfield.

This year’s parade winners were:

Most patriotic – Dennis Evers FamilyMost humorous – Billy Goat SaloonMost creative – Bayfield Realty.Bryan and Becky Eisenbraun won the corn hole tournament, and James Torrez and Dennis Whedbee were the winners in the Serranos’ annual horseshoe tournament. “The 4th was extremely successful,” Town Manager Chris La May said. “It went as smoothly as it could go, very safe, no one injured, no lost children, no heat exhaustion, no over-consumption, everyone very well behaved. It was an impressive event. We should be proud of what we did.”