The two-day festival will officially begin the evening of July 3 at 5 p.m. at Bismarck High School, but at 7 p.m. that evening, a special ceremony will be held in the high school gymnasium.

“We’re opening a time capsule that night at 7 p.m.,” said organizer Keith Colwell. “It was buried 50 years ago and encased in concrete. We uncased it this morning and it is now sitting inside the vault at city hall.”

The time capsule had been placed near Bismarck’s airport off Airport Road during the 100^th anniversary of Bismarck in 1968. With this year marking the 150^th anniversary, the capsule will be opened and the contents will be displayed.

“All the contents will be displayed inside the school in the new gym on the Fourth for people to come through and look at,” Colwell said. “After the Fourth, we’re going to create a new time capsule, put all that stuff back in and add new stuff for another 50 years.”

The new time capsule will be opened in 2068, in the year of the 200^th anniversary for Bismarck.

The capsule will be delivered to the high school from city hall on the night of July 3 by Fire Chief John Colwell and Acting Police Chief Rob Mahurin. The capsule will be turned over to Mayor Seth Radford, who will then open it and display the contents.

Vendors and booth operators will begin setting up for the annual festival on July 3 between noon and 4 p.m., with events opening at 5 p.m. Shannon Cox and Black Diamond Band will perform from 5 to 7 p.m., with Déjà vu taking the stage from 7 to 9 p.m.

At 9 p.m., a glow run will be held to close out the evening. This year’s attractions will include bounce houses, a slide, barrel train rides, games, antique tractors and the display of the historic items from the time capsule.

On the morning of July 4, parade lineup will begin at 9 a.m. with the parade beginning at 10 a.m. Following the annual parade, the events will open for the day at 11 a.m., at which time a flag-raising ceremony will also be held.

From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Book of Ruth will perform followed by a K-9 presentation featuring Deputy Glore and Teo of the St. Francois County Sheriff’s Department from 1 to 2 p.m.

From 1 p.m. to 2:45 p.m., Brandon Scherffius will take the stage, followed by the Heartland Cloggers from 2:45 to 3:15 p.m., Buddy Dees and the Cruisers from 3:15 to 5 p.m. and Bad Dog from 5 to 9 p.m. The annual fireworks display will begin at 9 p.m., or dark.

“We’ll have a very large fireworks display just like we did last year,” Colwell said. “We want everybody to come out and enjoy it.”

The annual softball tournaments will be held on June 30 and July 1, in addition to the annual volleyball tournament which will be held throughout the day on July 4.

The Bismarck Freedom Fest is sponsored by the Bismarck Fire Department.