Thousands of area residents gathered along U.S. 81 and adjoining side roads over the weekend to set off fireworks in celebration of the Fourth of July.

Lucky Star Casino at Concho put on a 30-minute show Saturday night with colorful bursts to honor the nation’s independence.

While the full impact of the coronavirus pandemic to public school coffers is unknown, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt last week awarded $16 million to some districts to help with student learning.

Only two Canadian County districts, Mustang and Yukon, were among the 150 in the state to receive the funds. The money is to help “mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 on student learning and ensure students are able to access learning opportunities in the new school year,” said Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister in a prepared statement.

If these strange times have taught us anything, it’s to hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

That's the attitude of the Canadian County Fair Board, whose members are planning for the festivities to be held Aug. 26-29.

Brad Tipton, fair board secretary, said the organizers will follow whatever guidance Gov. Kevin Stitt recommends in the way of social distancing and other preventative measures.

What exactly those measures will be is uncertain at the moment. Tipton says it's too early to make definitive statements.

The county’s new fairgrounds could soon have access to water after the Canadian County Water Authority voted to approve the county’s membership to the Banner Rural Water District. The vote to accept the Canadian County Public Facilities Authority into the membership came last week.

Lance Brown, chairman of the Banner board, said there was never any doubt the county’s fairgrounds would be serviced by the Banner Water District.