Can’t Miss with Chip Chandler, June 30

Semiquincentennial celebrations are all around this weekend in honor of America’s 250th birthday.

In Amarillo, the city Parks and Recreation Department will host its Red, White & Boom! celebration at 5 p.m. Saturday in John Stiff Park, 4800 S. Bell St. The mini-festival will feature food trucks, a kids’ zone, a beer garden, a sand volleyball tournament, and a 200+-drone display followed by a fireworks show.

Admission is free. Check the PARD website for extensive details on food trucks and more.

Elsewhere in Amarillo, festivities will include:

• Freedom Fest: 5 to 9 p.m. Friday; features a cookout, vendors’ market, more; Homestead Market on the Loop, 8320 E. Farmers Ave.; homesteadamatx@gmail.com 

• Amarillo Zoo Animal Parade: 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday; includes food trucks and a free gift for the first 100 visitors. Parade begins at 11:30 a.m.; regular admission rates apply; 700 Comanchero Trail; 806-678-9614; amarillo-zoo.com

• Smokey Joe’s: 5 to 11 p.m. Saturday; featuring Dale Smith, Touching Voodoo and Jack Cryver & The Bad Decisions; 2903 S.W. Sixth Ave.; 806-331-6698

• Will Rogers Range Riders Rodeo: 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday; 8829 Farm-to-Market Road 1541; tickets $15 nightly; 806-622-2102

In Canyon, the party kicks off early with a concert featuring Amarillo native Aaron Watson and William Clark Green at 8 p.m. Friday at The Lumberyard, 850 N. 23rd St. in Canyon. Tickets are $48.90.

They’ll continue with a day-long celebration Saturday, starting with the 7 a.m. Lions Club Pancake Breakfast, Fair on the Square from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., the annual parade at 10 a.m. and fireworks at sunset.

And, elsewhere around the region:

• Canadian: Activities include the annual rodeo at 7 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, followed by concerts by Tyce Delk with Cela Harper on Thursday and Aaron Watson with Ty Blackburn on Friday; plus a parade, a watermelon feed, the turtle race and more. Call 806-323-6234.

• Clarendon: The 149th Saints’ Roost Celebration will include a ranch rodeo Thursday through Saturday, community lunches, a craft fair, the parade and more. Call 806-874-2421.

• Fritch: The Lake Meredith Aquatic & Wildlife Museum, 101 N. Robey Ave., will host a parade, turtle race, vendors’ fair, a fish fry and more, with fireworks over the lake that night. Call 806-857-3143.

• Pampa: Party with the Harvesters at this community celebration Saturday, including live music, fireworks, a parade, a hot dog eating contest and more. (various locations in Pampa; 806-669-3241)

After smoke from this weekend’s fireworks has settled, head out to Palo Duro Canyon State Park any Tuesday night in July to enjoy this summer’s Shakespeare in the Canyon selection, Much Ado About Nothing. 

Director Rachel Dawson, a Texas alumna who’s now an assistant professor of theater at WinthropUniversity in Rock Hill, South Carolina, told me she helped pick the iconic comedy for the summer because it offers something for all ages.

“You could come as a kid and see the physical comedy and laugh, but you also could come as an adult and enjoy that and also enjoy the wit that comes with Shakespeare’s comedies,” Dawson said.

(This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.)

Chip Chandler: Were you in Shakespeare in the Canyon as a Texas company member? 

Rachel Dawson: Yes. Most recently, I did Shakespeare in 2024 when Royal Brantley directed A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and before that, it would have been around 2014, ’15, ’16, when I did the show.

CC: What’s so cool for a Texas cast member to have this opportunity every summer? What does it offer them? 

RD: It’s a really fantastic opportunity to kind of expose yourself to diverse material. You’re getting to work in one capacity in Texas, and you’re getting to kind of strengthen those different muscles as an actor in Shakespeare. For example, I was a dancer in Texas and so I got to kind of fuel that tank, and then, during the day, I got to rehearse for Shakespeare and I got to kind of fuel the actor tank there. It’s really fulfilling to be able to work with this diverse material throughout the summer and continue to grow and expand your repertoire and expand your skills. 

CC: I imagine you’re getting experience from Texas, especially in performing the same material every night and getting that into your bones and learning how to work with a different audience or in front of a different audience every night. But then you get to explore your more creative side when you’re doing Shakespeare. 

RD: Sure, and then they they ask for different things. Texas is so excellent in building performers for stamina for performance quality. You get to feel what it’s like to perform outside for a really long run, and these are all great things that make you so marketable in the field. And then in Shakespeare, you get to bite into some more complex text that challenges you maybe a little more intellectually in regards of script analysis and things like that. And so it’s a great balance to kind of strengthen both sides of the coin for you as a performer, dancer, singer, musician, whatever it is that you may do. 

CC: Obviously this is a comedy, but it’s one of his deeper comedies, right? 

RD: I agree. It really is unique in that sense of the way that it toes the line between comedy and tragedy. It’s so funny. It’s so smart. And then things get really, really serious, because the stakes are so high for some of these characters. It still ends in a very hopeful and beautiful place, which I think is very fun and rewarding as an audience member and as a performer. 

CC: What does it mean to you and your husband (fellow Texas alum Brandon Dawson) to return to the canyon?

RD: It’s very, very special and very rewarding, and we’re very grateful to be asked to come back and return and work in this capacity. It’s really fun to visit the old stomping grounds. There’s something really special about the way that Texas and Shakespeare in the Canyon bring people from all walks of life and all areas of the country to come together and create this one piece of art. It’s just really special to see the tradition continue and see the next generation of artists take on this show. 

Showtime is 8 p.m. July 9, 16, 23 and 30 in Pioneer Amphitheatre. Tickets are $25. For information, call 806-651-2181.

This week’s other can’t-miss options: