VanderSloot: This will likely be last year for Melaleuca Freedom Celebration
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IDAHO FALLS — Frank VanderSloot announced that this will likely be the last year for the Melaleuca Freedom Celebration.
“This will be our last year for the foreseeable future,” VanderSloot, Melaleuca’s executive chairman, told reporters in a news conference Thursday morning.
The celebration is held every year on the Fourth of July. The annual tradition began in 1992 and is known as the largest fireworks show west of the Mississippi River.
VanderSloot said the celebration’s current location at Snake River Landing can no longer accommodate the crowds it draws. This is due to ongoing development in the area and parking issues there.
The celebration’s home was the Shilo Inn, but it later moved to Snake River Landing with the understanding that it would be there for five years. That was 10 years ago, Vandersloot said, and he expressed gratitude to Snake River Landing for accommodating the show for so long.
However, VanderSloot is not against restarting the freedom celebration if an appropriate venue can be found.
“If the community wants to keep it going, we’re there. We’ll do the fireworks,” he said.
As for the 2026 Melaleuca Freedom Celebration, VanderSloot said it will be bigger than ever to celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday and the fireworks show will include more than 18,000 shells.
“We want to go out with a bang,” he said.
You can watch the entire press conference in the video player above.
This is a developing story and will be updated.