The Lake Oswego Lions Club 4th of July pancake breakfast has been a Costello family tradition for a long time.

Small town living doesn’t get much better than Lake Oswego on the Fourth of July. Perhaps that explains why our summer visitors usually time their stay during this holiday. Look what Lake Oswego has in store.

The Celebration Starts Early with the Millennium Concert Band. As band leader Dale Cleland explains, “It’s not that unusual for a community like ours to have a community band.” What is unusual is the level of excellence band members bring to the stage, which explains why last year Lake Oswego’s Millennium Concert Band won the Sudler Silver Scroll Award, North America’s most prestigious award for community concert bands. Come see what all the fuss is about on Thursday, July 3, at 7:00 p.m. in Millennium Plaza Park, 1st and Evergreen.

Fast forward 20 years and we are still showing up for those pancakes!

Lake Oswego Lions Club Pancake Breakfast. This event will make a believer out of you…a belief that there is no better way to start your day than with big fluffy pancakes hot off the griddle accompanied by banjo strumming music and what seems like half the town dressed up in every variation of red white and blue. 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at George Rogers Park, 611 S. State Street.

Star Spangled Parade. How many ways can you decorate a stroller or a bike? Find out as you watch Lake Oswego’s young set parade down A Avenue, finishing up at Millennium Plaza Park, 1st and Evergreen. 10:00 a.m.

Star Spangled Celebration. You can’t get much more small town than a pie-eating contest and Lake Oswego’s begins at 12:30 p.m. The party starts earlier with live music, face painting, food, and balloon animals to keep everyone entertained. 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Millennium Plaza Park, 1st and Evergreen.

Lake Corporation Boat Parade. The flag waving takes to the water starting between 12:00 and 1:00 p.m. as boats line up decked out in their patriotic colors near the Lake Grove Swim Park for a procession along the lake. Good viewpoints include the swim park and Oswego Canal bridge at the beginning, and Millennium Plaza Park, the decks off the Lake Theatre and Café and Stickmen’s Brewery and Skewery, and Sundeleaf Plaza at the end (parade takes close to two hours).

Fireworks on the Lake. Boats sit in waiting, displaying their red and green navigation lights, while crowds plant themselves at the Lake Grove Swim Park, Oswego Canal bridge and waterfront homes. At 9:45 p.m. the west end of Oswego Lake explodes with color as the Lake Corporation show takes to the skies.

The Party Continues with Lake Corporation Ski & Wakeboard Competition. Watch local hotshots show off their stuff in Lakewood Bay. 10:00 a.m. Saturday, July 5.

Portland Water Spectacular Ski Show. Festivities conclude with the pros showing us how it’s done in Lakewood Bay. 7:00 p.m. Saturday, July 5.

Lake Oswego knows how to do the 4th! It also knows how to do Farmer’s Markets, art festivals, public education….Subscribe to “52 Reasons to Love Lake Oswego” so you can keep up-to-date on what’s going on and why you might want to live here! Just click the “Sign me up” button in the top right hand column.