While Lake Tahoe might be the busiest and most popular place to go for this Fourth of July, some of the rural communities like to keep their celebrations a bit more low key.
Nearly 8,000 people took a look at the offerings at this year's Fernley Fourth of July celebration. The annual event brings people together with a parade, music, food and fireworks.
"If you keep it a small town thing where everybody's close, it makes it more fun,” said Jamie Brown, president of the Fernley Fourth of July Committee.
Others in the Fernley community threw parties of their own. Associates at the True Artistry Salon held a family potluck right off of Main Street in their business parking lot.
"This is actually the first year that we've done this, we got all the girls together and their families and watched the parade and barbecued,” said hair stylist Stephanie Petersen.
No matter where people are celebrating in Fernley or even the rest of the state, local law enforcement wants everyone to get home safe.
“We are out there in full force, we have every available trooper that's working on the highways, we're looking for people that are breaking the law, and we're looking for people that are drinking and driving,” said Trooper Matt McLaughlin with the Nevada Highway Patrol.
In addition to NHP’s efforts to stop dangerous drivers, they hope motorists are putting in an effort to protect others as well. They say Fourth of July is not just a busier time on the roads, but also in the crosswalks.
“They're not looking up where they should be and they hit a pedestrian that's crossing the street, pedestrians are not usually doing anything wrong, but as we see in most of these crashes pedestrians don't usually fair as well when they're struck by a motor vehicle,” said McLaughlin.
NHP will be keeping an eye out on rural Nevada all night long as the festivities continue. Fernley's Fourth of July firework show will kick off at dusk.
