4 July Activities to Enjoy in Butte County

Inde­pen­dence Day in Butte Coun­ty is a blast, and there’s noth­ing quite like cel­e­brat­ing the Fourth of July by watch­ing the rock­ets’ red glare over the rolling hills. With sev­er­al options across the coun­ty, you can find your per­fect patri­ot­ic display!

• Oroville’s annu­al 4^th of July Celebration will again be at the Oroville Air­port. Come in the morn­ing for a car show, ven­dors, food, and fly-ins, and then return at sun­set for the fire­work show!
• Big­gs is pre­sent­ing its annu­al 4^th of July fire­works extrav­a­gan­za with pyrotech­nics set off from the high school foot­ball field. 
• Enjoy fast cars and fire­works with the Sil­ver Dol­lar Speed­way’s giant fire­work dis­play in Chico.
• Par­adise will have their 1,100 flags out from 6am to 6pm along Sky­way and Elliot Road for a beau­ti­ful and patri­ot­ic dri­ve up the ridge.

In Chico, Explore Bid­well Park’s swim­ming holes. Once upon a time, the tucked-away spot on Big Chico Creek in Upper Bid­well Park known as Bear Hole was sort of a locals-only secret. Those days are long gone, but all that means is that it’s turned into a sort of nat­ur­al pub­lic pool on its busiest days. The water’s always fresh and cold, and thus the per­fect cure for those 100-degree days. And that’s only the most pop­u­lar one!

Oth­er qual­i­ty swim­ming holes in the park include Alli­ga­tor Hole (great if you have lit­tle ones with you, since it’s quite shal­low and close to the eas­i­ly acces­si­ble park­ing lot and trail­heads), Salmon Hole — fur­ther up the trail than Bear Hole and a bit more seclud­ed — and Brown’s Hole, which is far­thest from the park entrance but worth the jour­ney if you val­ue the exer­cise and the oppor­tu­ni­ty for some solitude.

In Oroville, relax at River­bend Park. Check the flows first, but typ­i­cal­ly the Feath­er Riv­er moseys by the park, which itself is a clean, well-main­tained place to play for fam­i­lies. Shal­low­er spots near the park will allow you to wade in and cool off from a grassy shore; there are also sev­er­al spots locals use for div­ing where the riv­er is deep­er. It’s a great spot for a swim if you’re also plan­ning a pic­nic or a game of fetch with a fur­ry friend.

If you’ve got a boat, the deep, cool waters of Lake Oroville—the city’s top recre­ation­al site — are tough to beat for local water­sports. But it would be a mis­take to dis­count it as a great swim­ming spot, too. Hun­dreds of coves, espe­cial­ly on the deep­er north branch, make a day in the water just a short water­craft ride away — and many oth­ers still are with­in short hik­ing distance.

Butte Coun­ty has no short­age of ice cream, gela­to, and frozen yogurt estab­lish­ments where you can find a creamy dessert any time. And with Nation­al Ice Cream Day land­ing on the 3^rd Sun­day in July, what bet­ter way to cel­e­brate than by giv­ing one of these loca­tions a visit?

• Sweet Chico Con­fec­tions. The Down­town Chico con­fec­tion­er has a gela­to selec­tion per­fect for warm sum­mer evenings, with a good vari­ety of fla­vors rang­ing from fruity to tru­ly indulgent.
• La Flor de Michoacán. A mas­sive selec­tion of Mex­i­can-inspired fla­vors, as well as more famil­iar clas­sic ones. Whether it’s tamarind, almond or a clas­sic straw­ber­ry or choco­late, ​“La Flor” will def­i­nite­ly have some­thing you’ll like — and there are mul­ti­ple loca­tions in Chico and one in Oroville.
• Foster’s Freeze in Oroville: If old-fash­ioned Amer­i­cana is what you’re crav­ing, this Oro Dam eatery has options to sat­is­fy any sweet tooth with dipped cones, shakes, sun­daes, and splits.
• Uni­cone: Enjoy hand-scooped ice cream, shakes, floats, and oth­er treats at Uni­cone — get it to-go to enjoy as you explore the rest of Down­town Oroville.
  

One of down­town Chico’s more pop­u­lar sum­mer­time tra­di­tions, Slice of Chico offers fam­i­ly-friend­ly fun designed to put downtown’s eater­ies in the spot­light, with one sum­mery twist: Water­mel­on! On Sat­ur­day July 23, mul­ti­ple water­mel­on sta­tions offer cold slices of the refresh­ing fruit, and select restau­rants offer water­mel­on-themed menu items.

So, whether you’re on the look­out for sen­so­ry over­load this sum­mer, or just look­ing for enter­tain­ing ways to relax and stay cool, Butte Coun­ty has plen­ty of options to make sure you’ll always have some­thing to do!