July 4th weekend starts with a bang at Fort Ligonier social event

The Fourth of July weekend will begin with a bang at Fort Ligonier, as the fort hosts a new social event called Cannons and Cocktails.

Set for 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. July 2, the casual gathering will feature an artillery firing, live musical entertainment by fiddler Andy Bronkaj and 18th-century-influenced cocktails and appetizers.

“What better weekend to fire artillery, listen to great music and enjoy seeing friends at the fort than the July 4th holiday weekend,” said Julie Donovan, the fort’s director of marketing and public relations. “This will be our first social gathering since social restrictions lifted.

“The entire fort team has really missed planning onsite events, seeing our wonderful supporters and meeting new faces,” she said.

Reservations for Cannons and Cocktails are $25 per person. Those interested in attending can sign up at fortligonier.org or by calling 724-238-9701 by June 30.

The event, to be held rain or shine, is one of several social gatherings on the fort’s schedule, Donovan said.

Upcoming Sunset Tours are planned for July 23, Aug. 13 and Sept. 3. Those events feature a private, guided tour of the fort museum; a wine and cheese reception on the patio of the education building and a lantern-lit walk through the hilltop fortifications as night falls.

A Sunset Tour planned for Friday is sold out.

The Cannon Ball, the signature fundraising event for the historical complex, will return in-person on Sept. 17 after having gone virtual in 2020.

That event will include food catered by Vallozzi’s, live music, live auction and a silent auction with online bidding.

One of the live auction items — a five-day, four-night trip to Barbados — “has a neat little tie to the fort’s history,” Donovan said.

“The only place George Washington ever traveled outside of the country was to Barbados,” she said.

The trip includes accommodations at the Fairmont Royal Pavilion hotel and tours of the military garrison and the historic house, now known as the George Washington House, where the future president stayed during his 1751 visit to the Caribbean island.

Details: fortligonier.org