MISHAWAKA — Sprinklers erupted with a cooling rinse of water and children shrieked in delight late in the afternoon Saturday, June 27, at the city’s Central Park splash pad, 235 E. Mishawaka Ave.
Their laughter and exuberant screams mirrored the fireworks that would burst from the night sky hours later to cap off the city’s annual Independence Day celebration. In between, attendees listened to live music from Tege Holt and from Small Town: A Tribute to John Mellencamp, bought from food truck vendors, and enjoyed easy access to the park’s contemporary and accessible playground equipment during the five-hour evening event.
The celebration is an annual favorite for the South Bend area, as several attendees said it has become a tradition for them to visit. Zachary Carroll, who originally grew up in Mishawaka, said he has been to the city’s fireworks show five times now and enjoys the opportunity to return for it because it’s free, while also serving as an opportunity for community engagement.
“The local food trucks keep money in the community,” Carroll said, noting that the food he keeps coming back for is Cambodian Thai, a family-run Thai eatery with a storefront located at 223 N. Main St.
Lifelong Mishawaka resident Kathryn Robinson said the food keeps her coming back to the annual event as well.
“I think everyone’s here for the food, mostly,” she said. “Music’s great. I love the music. I always love how everyone comes together to enjoy, to get together, watch the fireworks. They do an absolute amazing show out here every year.”
Celebrating the 4th … on the 27th?
Mishawaka’s festivities took place the Saturday before the Fourth of July, June 27 — even though the Fourth of July is on a Saturday this year and other area firework shows, like South Bend’s at Howard Park, are slated for next Friday/Saturday.
“I know a lot of people are very weird about it, but it’s [likely] because everyone has plans with their family or friends going out to a different state, seeing family in a different state to do Fourth of July,” Robinson said. “But I feel like … a week before actually gives a lot of people room to enjoy fireworks with their family,”
That’s true for Mackenzie Schriefer, an Elkhart area resident who attends the Mishawaka fireworks show “every year” with her husband and two young children. She said the family has other plans on the Fourth of July this year, “so this worked out better for us.”
Robinson works long hours at a dog boarding and daycare center “pretty much every day,” including holidays like the Fourth of July, so she said she appreciates the otherwise “weird” scheduling by the Mishawaka Parks Department.
Patriotic resonance
As the country prepares to celebrate 250 years, attendees of Mishawaka’s fireworks show certainly felt the significance of the evening ahead of the milestone birthday.
A number of attendees, like Carroll, felt the patriotic spirit in the air. “America means freedom to do whatever you want — as long as it doesn’t impact somebody else negatively,” he said.
Other visitors, like Ivy Valentiny, owner of The Book Cottage — a small, women-owned business operating out of a Japanese Kei Truck — stressed concern for the country’s democracy.
“If I’m being brutally honest, America doesn’t mean the same to me that it once did before, and I feel like it’s a very scary time right now,” she said. “America used to be a place where change was encouraged — and we’ve kind of fallen back on that …”
Seeing her country “fall back on” its principles, Valentiny decided she could not allow herself to just sit and watch. An avid bookworm since childhood while reading her favorite series, “The Adventures of the Bailey School Kids,” Valentiny imported her Japanese Kei Truck from Japan in early 2025 and converted it into a mobile bookstore to “encourage reading in the community.”
“When I bring out the truck with all the books, it lets people know, ‘Reading is cool, and you should totally pick up a book,'” she said.
With her advocacy for physical media and child literacy, Valentiny hopes to show others in the community that change does not have to occur overnight — but it does have to include action — for the longevity of the country to be ensured.
“We can still go forth and try to change the things that we kind of have fallen back on,” Valentiny said. “I’d like for America to mean ‘progress.'”
Upcoming Fourth of July events
If you couldn’t make it to the Mishawaka fireworks show, not to worry. The South Bend area has a slew of upcoming events celebrate America’s 250 birthday, including a Mishawaka pancake breakfast July 4 and a free concert July 3 by the South Bend Symphony Orchestra at the Morris Performing Arts Center in South Bend.
An itemized list of Fourth of July festivities happening throughout the Michiana area can be found online : https://www.southbendtribune.com/story/news/local/2026/06/21/your-guide-to-4th-of-july-events-in-the-michiana-region/90318382007/.
Email South Bend Tribune summer 2026 intern Katherine Hill at KTHill@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: South Bend area gathers for early fireworks fun in Mishawaka
Reporting by Katherine Hill, South Bend Tribune / South Bend Tribune
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Katherine Hill, South Bend Tribune | USA TODAY Network
