The Fourth

So, today is July 1, and Friday is the Fourth. Hard to believe it's already here. I doubt we do anything out of the ordinary on Friday. There is the big music show in the park, but we haven't been since they started charging admission. We haven't watched the fireworks for several years........so I guess we're just Fourth of July duds!

The Fourth was such a big deal when I was a kid. It was always fun to get some of the smaller fireworks to have at home. I always liked the brightly-colored balls that you threw on a rock to make a "pop". The "snakes" were also a favorite.......the little black disks that you could light with a match, and they put out a "snake" of black ash as it burned.

Sometimes I could make those things last a few days, since there was only me to set them off. I'm sure the farm critters and the neighbors really appreciated that. There were usually some sparklers, which were burned after dark for full effect. I loved the sight and the smell......not so much the little sparks that could shoot off and singe my arms. And we usually had firecrackers, though I had to enjoy those from a distance. Dad was always afraid I'd hurt myself, so I wasn't allowed to light those fuses.

I remember a year or two we splurged on some bigger fireworks - there were a few Roman candles, and maybe a few other things. Money was usually an obstacle when it came to unnecessary items.

Most years, we would make the drive to Carrollton, find a parking spot along one of the City Park roads, and wait for the big fireworks show. Even then, with only the fireworks to draw people, the park would be filled. The roads would be lined, the parking lot by the high school/football field would be filled,  and the surrounding streets were full. All the shelter houses and picnic benches would be in use. Some people would be doing fireworks in the park, but it was pretty well controlled.

The fireworks were shot off on the senior league baseball diamond. Some people would sit in the bleachers surrounding the field, but most who were actually inside the park would stay in their cars. Once it was dark, the fun would truly begin, after a good time of walking around and visiting.

The fireworks would alter between aerial flashes and booms and things at ground level. I love the high-in-the-sky colorful showers - I didn't, though, care so much for the ones that had the large "boom!" accompanying it. Before long the light sulfur cloud would envelope the entire park, which served to drive away the mosquitoes and other bugs.

It always seemed like the fireworks show lasted a long, long time. Reality says it was probably around 45 - 60 minutes.....I was, after all, a kid with little concept of time. But all too soon it was time to start the car, turn on the headlights, and begin the slow exit of the park. City police would be at the main exits to the park, assisting the merging and melding of the traffic.

Dad always drove home through the country on gravel roads, which would get us away from other vehicles fairly soon. Often I would lay down in the back seat - not to go to sleep, but to replay all the beautiful fireworks in my mind.

I think having a musical show in the park has been a nice addition to the town's Fourth of July festivities for the last several years. It's nice to have an artist you're familiar with come to your little home town. We still have the fireworks following the show. But after a couple of unfortunate incidents with toppled aerial fireworks that shot across the park grounds instead of in the air, the fireworks are now done in a large area behind the fire station.

Many people who have attended the concert stay in the park to watch the fireworks. The fire station is on a high hill, so there's good visibility for the display. When we were still in our house, we could take our lawn chairs out to the back corner of our lawn and watch from there. We won't be able to see them from here because of heavy foliage on the trees, but that's probably okay. The past few years the Fourth has been just another day, and we've gone to bed abut the time the fireworks start. Oh, yeah, we're definitely duds!!