Chatham's Big Day: A 9 O'Clock Parade, Strawberry Shortcake, and JAWS After Dark

Start with the thing nobody tells the day-trippers: the fireworks aren't on the Fourth. Chatham's show goes up over Veterans Field on Thursday, July 2 — kids' games from 7, Dan Clark the "Singing Trooper" at 8, the sky around 9. The viewing footprint is tighter this year, so the families who get there early get the bleachers; everyone else stands. Come early or make peace with the lawn.

Then the main event. The Independence Day Parade steps off Main Street at 9 a.m. sharp on Saturday — and yes, 9, not 9:30; the start moved up and stuck. The Select Board flirted with rerouting it down Old Harbor Road this winter, then reversed course, so the parade runs its traditional Shore Road–to–Crowell Road line as it has for generations. Know this before you go: it's a route-wide tow zone from 2 a.m., and chairs can't go down until 2:30. Park once, walk in, and don't leave the truck on Main Street overnight unless you enjoy a conversation with the impound lot.

When the last fire engine passes, follow the crowd to the First United Methodist Church Strawberry Festival on Cross Street — homemade shortcake and a light lunch, proceeds to the church, the most reliable post-parade tradition in town. By evening you've got a choice: free Cape League baseball as the Anglers host Orleans at Veterans Field (7 p.m., pass the hat), or the Orpheum's JAWS, screened on the Fourth the way it's meant to be — 12 and 6:30 Saturday, plus a Sunday-night showing with the author. There's a free Friday-night season opener for the Chatham Band in Kate Gould Park, too, if you want the holiday to start gentle.

A note the visitors miss: the south-facing beaches clear early over the weekend, lots emptying by 9. It reads as a hassle until you realize it's the town keeping the holiday from getting away from it. Chatham throws the biggest party on the Lower Cape and still calls everyone home by dark. Go at least once.