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 an Independence Day holiday weekend full of fun:

• tethered hot air balloon rides (weather permitting)
• face painting
• decorated kayak/canoe/paddleboard flotilla competition (Register now to join the flotilla.)
• parade (Want to be in the parade? Register online.)
• food trucks
• family square dance
• live bluegrass music
• morning devotion
• fireworks
• floating wish lanterns (Learn more.)
• fishing
• storytime for kids
• tennis tournament (Register for the tournament.)
• decorated porch contest (Register for the porch contest.)
• closest-to-the-pin contest at the golf course
• Kona Ice for sale near pool afternoon and evening of Sunday, July 3
• food trucks on Monday, July 3 including Ruthie’s Famous Kettle Corn, Blundt Pretzels, Appalachian Smoke, Woof Street Bistro

Recreation, Shopping & Dining – Holiday Hours
10 a.m.-5 p.m.  | Memorial Chapel open for prayer (Sunday hours are 1 -5 p.m.)
8 a.m.-8 p.m. (July 1, 2 & 4 ) and 10 a.m.-9 p.m. (July 3)  | Junaluska Gifts & Grounds
10 a.m.-7 p.m.  | Lake Junaluska Golf Course
10 a.m.-8 p.m.  | Lake Junaluska Outfitters (pool passes, kayak, canoe & paddleboard rentals)
11 a.m.-7 p.m. | Crepe & Custard Cafe
1 p.m.-8 p.m. | Cherokee IV boat tours. Private tours are available.
2 p.m. -5 p.m. | Lake Junaluska Library

We also invite you to visit the Christmas Memories shop at Lambuth Inn, lakeside walking trail, playground, and gardens and places of meditation, and enjoy fishing and birding!

Staff and volunteers will place floating wish lanterns on the lake on Friday, July 1, at 8:45 p.m. Each lantern will carry 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 may make a donation of $40 per lantern using the online giving form below. Donations for lanterns will be accepted online through Wednesday, June 29. These donations help sustain 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, will be shared on this webpage on the day of the event.

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.

2021 Lanterns

Thank you to all who made a gift in 2021 to have a name placed on a lantern. Your gifts support the mission and ministry of Lake Junaluska.
Click here to download a full list of names of those who were honored and memorialized, along with the names of those who gave (.PDF)

Lake Junaluska’s Independence Day Celebrations feature concerts and music. Events finalized for 2022 include:

• Blue Ridge Big Band. Saturday, July 2, at 1 p.m.
• GloryWay. Sunday, July 3, at 7 p.m. at Stuart Auditorium. Tickets are $20 each and are on sale now online on iTickets. Buy tickets.
• Bluegrass music and family square dance performed and led by Whitewater Bluegrass. Monday, July 4, from noon-2 p.m. at the open-air Nanci-Weldon Memorial Gym. (Food trucks and more family-friendly activities will take place at the gym and field! Details coming soon!)
• Balsam Range concert. Monday, July 4, at 7:30 p.m. at Stuart Auditorium. Buy tickets.

Want to receive updates about Balsam Range concerts at Lake Junaluska? Subscribe below:

Colorful displays of fireworks will cast reflections on the lake on Sunday, July 3, at approximately 9:30 p.m. as part of Lake Junaluska’s annual Independence Day Celebrations! The fireworks will be set off from the bridge over-the-dam and visible from locations around the lake.

The bridge over-the-dam will close on July 3 to vehicular traffic at 8 a.m. and to pedestrian traffic  at noon 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
• RCF Construction, Inc.

Friends Sponsors

• Clark & Leatherwood, Inc.
• First United Methodist Church, Waynesville
• Long’s Chapel
• Maple Tree Veterinary Hospital
• The Mountaineer
• Pactiv Evergreen
• Haywood Ace Hardware
• Beverly-Hanks, McElroy & Ellege Team