fireworks & such

[Mod City]

The western part of the state has been dealing with dry conditions for a few years now, but I think it's improving. This year the eastern part, where I live, had decent rains earlier this summer so there are no burn bans or fireworks restrictions right now. It definitely makes the Fourth more interesting and festive.

When it's dry out in the Black Hills they don't mess around with fire hazards, that's for sure. Glad they at least got to see some pyrotechnics overseas

[Crowfan]

That's true. I'm glad at least the eastern part of the state is doing well.

[nondescript spice]

it's weird - this has been the wettest summer we've had in years. it usually dries up around this time and we're lucky to get a stray storm here and there for the rest of the season. i'm not complaining because i love rain, but it is making our humidity through the roof.

[crowschmo]

Jun 30, 2013 22:34:33 GMT -5 crowschmo said:

I live in a beach town on Long Island Sound, so we get QUITE the crowd in our 'berg. There's a carnival at one of the churches near the beach that always has their carnival for the week of the 4th so people pop over there for that, too, though the carnivals kind of suck these days and aren't as good as the ones I remember as a kid. (Of course, I WAS a kid, so maybe the memories are better than reality). There's usually a concert beforehand, but I usually don't go to that, and a local radio station sets up and plays music when the fireworks start that broadcast on their station. (Our fireworks are always on the 3rd unless it rains, so people can go to the ones in New Haven on the 4th as well). It's VERY crowded, thousands show up, people park their RV's on side streets and sit on the roofs. The beach is loaded. We usually have pretty good fireworks, though last year they were kind of blah. They just kept sending the same kind up over and over (the big ones that look like dandelion heads). There was no variety. Other people on the beach are usually setting their own off at the same time as the town's ones go off, so you have to look everywhere at once. And you can see another town's going off across the water.

One year was very good (I guess they had good funding that year, or a different group setting them off), and they had the smiley-faces and the peace signs and ones that swiggled all over the place and stuff. One year the smoke was so bad that if you were watching them from one side, they looked fine, but if you were unfortunate enough to be viewing them from the other side, you didn't see them at ALL. I was like, "uh, did they START them yet?" Then, poof, they were done! Rip-off!

The house my family used to live in, we could just walk to the beach it was like just across the street pretty much, and when I was on the third floor, I could see them from my window. Now at my new house, I have to take the car and I usually just park in my sister's driveway and walk a couple of blocks to the beach for a spot. Leaving the scene is a NIGHTMARE. The crowd is everywhere and walking all over the place. Then I just sit in my car for a minute or two before setting out for home (my sister usually is at a picnic at a friend's house who also lives near the beach, so I just use her driveway). People are setting off fireworks left and right in the streets and they don't give a rat's ass if a car is going by. And people walking in the street to get home or get to their cars don't care, either. They don't MOVE, they just walk in the street, la-di-da, who cares if there's a car behind me, la la la. Jerks. (They could walk single file more toward the curb, it wouldn't put them out).

A guy who lives on the street perpendicular to us usually sets off fireworks. The street kind of has an island in the middle that it goes around and he sets them off from there (and usually has a party on his lawn with music playing) and he usually sets them off on the 4th, so I get to see those even if I go to the town's display. His are actually even better than the town's. They're not quite as big, but there's more variety to them. Though, he didn't do them last year (maybe no money to do it).
Edit: Actually, it's a few households who pool their money.

I enjoy the 4th.

U-S-A! U-S-A!

Edit: By the way, my nutso cat LIKES thunder storms and fireworks and all kinds of excitement. He sits near the house and just watches the wild weather and doesn't come running in when fireworks go off or anything. A paper bag rustling makes him nervous, however. Go figure.

That guy in our neighborhood didn't set fireworks off last year either (when I first wrote this), but I was just outside watching his display for this 4th. Wow! He must've spent a LOT of moola. It was a long display and there were good ones going off. (Maybe it's a family and they pool their money). Edit: It's a few households who pool their money. Anyway, it looks like it costs a bundle, but it was enjoyable for the rest of us, heh. A lot of people were driving up in their cars when they noticed them going off and stopped to watch, so our streets had a good little crowd.

Happy 4th America!

[Mod City]

Now in my 12th year of working on July 4, and I'm sitting in our satellite office in a very small town waiting for the baseball game to wrap up so I can get a few shots of the display. The difference this year? I have a cooler of beer at my desk and I'm putting them down. This really makes working a holiday everyone else has off a lot easier Every July 4 this town has footraces (10k, 5k, etc.) beginning at 8 a.m., a parade at 11 a.m., a pork barbecue put on by the school FFA, games for children at the local park at 2 p.m., a baseball game at 7:30 p.m. and fireworks that follow that. My day is always screwed, so a beer buzz is helping greatly.

Don't try this at home, kids

[nondescript spice]

fight the power, mod. fight the powers that be.

your town has a similar 4th to where i live. although normally, my town has a parade every 4th. i never went. i can't imagine going to stand in 90 degree heat for an hour in a crowd to watch the same old men wave from pickup trucks that i could see at the christmas parade. and the city pays nearly 10 grand to do it! so this year they had activities in the covered bridge park - music, a bike parade for kids, inflatables, etc. then fireworks at the ball park after the game.

thanks to hurricane arthur, it only got up to 80 yesterday and was pretty cool last night in the low 50's. a lot of people in my neighborhood shoot off firecrackers most of the day through 11 or 12 at night, but someone close to my street had the big boy fireworks and i saw a pretty decent show of them for nearly an hour. i drank some hard cider with a friend and watched from my front steps.

[crowschmo]

Bump.

Well, of course this year's fireworks were cancelled for our town. People are mad that the beaches are a bit crowded and some aren't distancing themselves enough, but I think they do a pretty good job for the most part (most people).

Had a great fireworks display down the street, though, from the neighbors who pool their money and set them off almost every year. Holy sh*t. Best one yet. It lasted a good 45 minutes or so and almost the whole thing was like a grand finale. It just kept going. The people gathered around were applauding and we're like - nope, they're not done yet.

Wish I had video-ed it.

[mylungswereaching]

In the U.S. some people tried to outdo their neighbors with Halloween decorations. In my neighborhood, its fireworks. I hear fireworks every night (and some days) from early June to mid July every year. On the 4th this year they went on continuously from around 8pm until 1:30 am. I've always been a city folk. They really don't bother me. I sleep right through them when they go off when I'm asleep. If I had my dogs rather than my ex, they'd have been terrified for a month and a half every year.

The police are cracking down in my area because fireworks are illegal but they are perfectly legal a few states over (about 100 miles away). To me fireworks are like a lot of things. They are dangerous mostly if you are foolish or very unlucky.

[sol-survivor]

We have fireworks stands before the 4th all over the place in Wisconsin, but not quite so many around here this year. Our town had the fireworks canceled this year, too, which is too bad. They usually put on a pretty good show for a small town. I used to go see them with my late Mom but not for several years now. The park where they are held is only about a mile-and-a-half from my house but we can't see them at all because we're down a hill and lots of trees in between. We can sure hear them, though. Some of the neighbors were setting some off in the street out front of the house the past few nights (we're on a dead end street so there isn't much traffic coming through), which worried me just a little bit this year. Some of the trees in the yard were just trimmed and we have a lot of brush sitting by the curb waiting for the city to come around with a chipper this week. I thought an errant firecracker might set off a brush fire in our front yard, but nothing happened.

[crowschmo]

Just got back inside about a half hour ago from watching the fireworks down the street. My city isn't doing fireworks until September this year, so it was the only show in town. There were cars lined up and down the block and people sitting in folding chairs in the street watching this thing. Word of mouth, I guess. Of course, they're fireworks so, up in the air and visible from quite a distance, so I guess more and more people tend to notice, hey that part of town has people that set them off every year - let's go to that neighborhood and watch.

Got a good round of applause afterwards.

[mylungswereaching]

I'm not a big fireworks guy. There is a fireworks display about a mile from my house. Alls I need to do is walk out to my front lawn to watch it. I've lived here 3 years, I've never bothered. I call the 4th, Terrify the Dog Day.