Fourth includes closings, fireworks

Hints for the Fourth of July in Orange County: Do any county business on Wednesday or wait until Monday; and put your garbage out in West Orange on Saturday, not Friday.

The national holiday the Fourth of July is Thursday and Orange County offices will be closed on Thursday and Friday, giving non-essential county employees a four-day weekend.

City halls across the county will be closed on Thursday and open on Friday. However, only residents in West Orange will see a change in garbage pick-up. West Orange residents usually have pick-up on Fridays, but the city's garbage contractor is giving a holiday on Thursday, so delaying pick-up a day.

Bridge City, Orange, Pinehurst, and Vidor will have regularly scheduled garbage pick-up on the Fourth and Friday.

Bridge City had a citywide celebration this past weekend with a drone show, unique for this area, plus festival.

Orange will be having a traditional fireworks show on the Fourth of July with an evening gathering at the Riverside Pavilion area at the City Boat Ramp off Simmons Drive.

Gates will open for the free family event at 4 p.m. Thursday. The Royal Oaks Band will play from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., with the fireworks show over the Sabine River set to begin at 9 p.m. A kid zone with activities including inflatables will be set up.

The city is allowing people to bring coolers, however a variety of food trucks and vendors will be set up selling things like barbecue, chicken wings, snow cones, ice cream, and other snacks. Families are encouraged to bring lawn chairs or blankets to sit on for the event. No dogs or pets of any kind will be allowed.

Also on this big national holiday, federal and state offices will be closed, along with banks. All non-essential emergency workers like law officers and fire fighters, will be working on the holiday.

The Fourth of July, also known as Independence Day, was the birth of the United States of America. The Second Congressional Congress for the 13 original British colonies, signed a Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, while meeting in Philadelphia.

The declaration withdrew the colonies from under the rule of England's royalty, at the time King George III. However, the declaration did not automatically set the colonies on a path toward their own government. The Revolutionary War had to be fought and it eventually ended with England's surrender to the U.S. troops in 1881.

However, England didn't let it rest and attempted to retake the U.S. in what became the War of 1812, in which the U.S. successfully defended its country against the invaders.

Part of Fourth of July trivia includes the interesting fact about Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, the only two signers of the declaration who later because president of the United States. Both died on the 50th anniversary of the signing, July 4, 1826.

Also another Founding Father, James Madison, died on July 4, but in 1831. Madison served as fourth U.S. president and is considered "Father of the Constitution" for his work in writing the outline on how government should be run.

The city of Orange was originally named Madison in honor of him, but officials here changed the name in 1858 because the town kept getting confused with Madisonville, Texas.

Calvin Coolidge is the only U.S. president born on the Fourth of July.