Independence Day Celebrations

Free or low-cost family-friendly activities throughout Lake Junaluska’s Independence Day Celebration are offered through the Lake’s Summer Activities Program. Join us for a multi-day Independence Day Celebration  full of activities such as:

• face painting
• decorated kayak/canoe/paddleboard flotilla competition
• parade
• food trucks
• family square dance
• live bluegrass music
• morning devotion
• fireworks
• floating wish lanterns
• fishing
• tennis tournament
• decorated porch contest
• closest-to-the-pin contest at the golf course

We also invite you to shop or enjoy ice cream at Junaluska Gifts & Grounds; play a round of golf at the Lake Junaluska Golf Course, swim at the lakeside pool, take a tour on the Cherokee IV pontoon boat, or rent a kayak, canoe or paddleboard. You can also explore the Christmas Memories shop at Lambuth Inn, lakeside walking trail, playground, and gardens and places of meditation, and enjoy fishing and birding!

As part of Lake Junaluska’s multi-day Independence Day Celebration, staff and volunteers place floating wish lanterns on the lake on Saturday, July 1, at dusk (between 9:15 and 9:45 p.m.). Each lantern carries a name in remembrance or in honor of a loved one. All are welcome to the lakeside to enjoy, celebrate and admire this enchanting and meaningful display. To have a loved one’s name placed on a lantern, you make a donation of $40 per lantern using the online giving form on our website.

Thank you to all who made a gift in 2022 to have a name placed on a lantern. Your gifts support the mission and ministry of Lake Junaluska. A full list of names of those who are honored and memorialized, along with the names of those who gave, is now available. View the full list of 2022 Lake Junaluska Floating Wish Lantern Dedications (PDF) and see an album of photos on Facebook. An online form will be placed on the floating wish lanterns events page closer to the 2023 event for those who would like to make a gift to have a name placed on a lantern.

To help keep the lake clean, the lanterns are biodegradable and staff and volunteers will help gather as many lanterns as possible from the lake after the event as soon as conditions allow.

Lake Junaluska’s Independence Day Celebrations feature concerts and music. Concerts confirmed for 2023 include:

• Outdoor lakeside performance by Blue Ridge Big Band on Friday, June 30
• Concert featuring Darren Nicholson Band and Unspoken Tradition in historic Stuart Auditorium on Sunday, July 2. Buy tickets.
• Outdoor concert and family square dance featuring Whitewater Bluegrass at the open-air gym on Wednesday, July 4

Colorful displays of fireworks will cast reflections on the lake as part of Lake Junaluska’s annual Independence Day Celebrations! The fireworks are set off from the bridge over the dam and visible from locations around the lake.

On the day of the fireworks show, the bridge over-the-dam, including the portion of the Walking Trail that goes over the bridge, will close early to vehicular and pedestrian traffic for safety reasons as preparations are made for the event.

Thank you to Visit NC Smokies and our Friends of the Lake sponsors below for helping make this event possible!

Partnership Sponsor

• Haywood Regional Medical Center

Patron Sponsors

• Smoky Mountain News
• Clark & Leatherwood, Inc
• Maple Tree Veterinary Hospital
• RCF Construction, Inc.

Friends Sponsors

• Beverly-Hanks, McElroy & Ellege Team
• First United Methodist Church, Sylva
• First United Methodist Church, Waynesville
• Haywood Ace Hardware
• Long’s Chapel
• Pactiv Evergreen
• The Mountaineer