PROVO — The countdown is on — and so is the competition.

Tickets are still available for Stadium of Fire in Provo and Freedom Blast in Salt Lake City, the state's two major Fourth of July weekend celebrations.

And with four days until the firework rockets glare red, the clock is ticking for organizers of the shows, which are competing for the biggest crowd.

Organizers of Stadium of Fire, the culminating event of America's Freedom Festival at Provo, said ticket sales are steady. Freedom Blast chiefs said ticket sales are better- than-expected for an inaugural year.

Yet, it may be the procrastinating purchasers who determine if the July 2 shows will sell out.

"Ticket sales have risen a lot," said Taylor Macdonald, executive director of America's Freedom Festival at Provo, who declined to give a ticket-sold tally. "(But) a lot of people have postponed. (They say) 'I'm going to do that, I just haven't gotten around to that.' That's typical, people wait."

Although the Stadium of Fire has sold out for the past two years, unless the pace picks up, a sell-out might not happen, said Clark Livsey, special-events ticket manager at LaVell Edwards Stadium, where the event is held.

"We have strong sales, but I don't think we'll get to a sell-out," he said. "It very well may, you never know what to expect with people in Utah — they wait until the last minute to buy things."

The shows have heavily marketed their main acts.

Kelly Clarkson, the first "American Idol" winner, is the big draw for Freedom Blast.

In Provo, county group Lonestar and singer and actress Mandy Moore will perform at Stadium of Fire.

Advertising through television, radio, giant banners and printed ads, Stadium of Fire, in its 25th year, has promised a million firecrackers and an aerial firework show.

"We put in place a marketing plan some months ago," Macdonald said. "We're just executing it to the end."

So the ads will continue as they have for the past few months, encouraging people to come fill one of the 47,000 available seats. The stadium holds about 64,500 people, but there's no seating on the west bleachers, because that area is needed for the show.

Although a sold-out show would imply there are no more tickets, the "sold-out" definition is vague because if promoters hold on to tickets until right before the show, then release them, that could skew the sold-out label.

"We'll call it a sell-out when all the available tickets have been sold," Livsey said. "(But) the show could be sold out, then suddenly it's not — there's kind of several different meanings of the (words) sold out."