WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — From Founders to frankfurters to fireworks, the Williamstown Chamber of Commerce has you covered for July Fourth fun.

 

A day of holiday fun gets underway on Wednesday with a 5-kilometer run and 1-mile walk, the Race for Independence, sponsored by Nature's Closet. The event begins at 8 a.m. on Williams College's Chapin Lawn and signals the start of activities that will not conclude until the grand finale of the second annual fireworks shot at Taconic Golf Club.

 

Chapin Lawn also will be the site of a morning yoga and meditation session hosted by Tasha Yoga and open to the public at 9 a.m. In the event of rain, the event will be moved inside First Congregational Church on Main Street.

 

An artisan market will also open at 9 a.m. on Spring Street, where there will be activities for kids from 9 to 3 p.m.

 

Spring Street will be the center of things throughout midday as the annual Hometown Parade kicks off at 11 on Southworth Street and makes its way down Spring Street to the municipal parking lot at the corner of Spring and Walden.

 

The lot is the site of the annual free cookout sponsored by Williams College and Stop & Shop at noon.

 

While visitors munch on hot dogs and hamburgers, they will be serenaded by the Capital Brass, which will be in concert on the post office steps at noon.

 

At 1:30, actors from the Williamstown Theatre Festival will perform dramatic readings of the founding documents from 1776 on the balcony of Williams' Sawyer Library.

 

Images Cinema will give revelers a chance to cool off at 2:30 with a free showing of the Sundance Film Festival's Short Film Tour.

 

And when it starts to cool down outside, it's time to set up your picnic blankets on the fairway at Taconic Golf Club, where adults can partake in a cookout for $10. Children 12 and under eat free with a paying adult; additional children will cost $5.

 

“The goal of all the donors [underwriting the cookout] is to make this welcoming to all members of the community,” Select Board member Jane Patton said on Monday.

 

Patton, the facility director at Taconic, said a number of local businesses and town entities have helped defray the cost of the event, which will include live entertainment until the 9:30 fireworks show.

 

"It was really special last year, and to make this an annual event in town and take it a step further and make it really accessible to folks was important to us,” Patton said. “Get there early. There's plenty of room on the golf course, but you don't want to be running in at the last minute.”