A crowd estimated in the neighborhood of 15,000 people turned out for the Friday evening concerts at Sundown Salute in Junction City.

The coordinator for Sundown Salute, Sharon Glessner, told JCPost.com every aspect of the day was record breaking, beginning with the Freedom Run which had more than 500 entries, and the parade and veteran’s ceremony. After the evening concerts Glessner said all the bands were phenomenal. “That’s all I keep hearing. The music was really great tonight, and then capped off by the fireworks tonight by actually a local guy Roger Bennett.” The bands included Change of Heart, Travelin’ Band, and Hells Bells.

One minor glitch in the Sundown Salute parade resulted in the early parade entries being given direction to start before those farther back in the lineup were ready. It resulted in a gap in the parade for a short time.

Glessner called the fireworks show awesome.   “It was beautiful right here from the park.”

A small number of arrests were reported in the downtown area during the evening ( 3 ), but law enforcement authorities were not having to handle a lot of problems. Police Chief Tim Brown talked about the 15,000 crowd attendance estimate. “That’s the expert, Rick Dykstra says that’s about 15,ooo so we’re good with that. I think that’s a fair estimate.”  Dykstra is the assistant director of the Geary County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, and a veteran of many Sundown Salutes where he does a great deal of video work.

The Saturday lineup includes a car show from 8 a.m. to one p.m., Ottaway Amusement Carnival opening at one p.m., activities in Heritage Park ranging from performances by a juggler to a bicycle stunt shows, a Kids Zone, and evening concerts including “The Banned” at 6 p.m., “Firehouse” at 7:30, and “Warrant” at 9 p.m.