Plans are in place for Tewksbury's annual Fourth of July Celebration at the Saunders Recreation Complex on Livingston Street.

This year's celebration promises to be better than ever, with games and activities for the children and adults, lots of food and fun and live music leading up to an awesome fireworks display in the evening.

And new this year -- Tewksbury Patch has joined forces with the Tewksbury Community Food Pantry to give away FREE Patch T-shirts. All you have to do is donate a non-perishable food item at the Patch/Food Pantry table at the event and you will get a free Patch T-shirt.

This has been a challenging year for the Food Pantry, which helps out around 250 local families, as donations have been down. Anything you can do to help is greatly appreciated.

The Fourth of July Festivities will get started with a continental breakfast being served from 8:30 to 10 a.m. by the Tewksbury Rotary Club in the covered area behind the Parks and Recreation Area.

The track and field games for all ages will run from 9 to 11 a.m.

From 11 a.m. to Noon will be the traditional Doll Carriage Decorating and Bike Decorating competitions, as well as the wonderful Little Miss Tewksbury and Little Mister Tewksbury Contests.

Also from 11 a.m. to Noon will be the basketball shooting contest.

From Noon to 12:30 p.m. (or until they run out) The Tewksbury Lodge of Elks will be serving free hot dogs and ice cream.

And from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., some of the most fun (and most messy) events of the day take place with the pie eating and watermelon eating contests.

After a a break, the festivities will resume at 7 p.m. back at the recreation area with a free concert by Tewksbury's own Siracusa Project. If you haven't had the chance to hear these guys in concert, you should. They are fabulous.

The concert will lead right up to the traditional Fourth of July Fireworks, scheduled to begin some time around 9 p.m.

The daytime events on July 4 are being organized and sponsored by the Community Services Department of the Tewksbury Public Schools. The Fireworks are being sponsored by the fundraising efforts of the Friends of the Patriotic Activities Committee.

A complete schedule of the July 4 events is attached to this story as a printable PDF document.