Boom, Crackle, Pop!

July 4th, the day we celebrate the birth of our nation, sounds pretty important, right?

Well for such an important sounding holiday I certainly don't do anything extravagant or overly important. I decided to ask around to see if this was just my family or others too. Ultimately I have come to the conclusion that as a country we do much to celebrate the 4th of July.

With that being said their are some traditions my friends, as well as myself, follow. Some people I talked to go to picnics and eat lots of different kinds of food, specifically watermelon, while others hang out with family and play baseball. However most people I asked said they watch fireworks.

Photo By: Ginny

Since that's a rather broad tradition, I'll focus on the two different firework traditions my family has.

On the fourth, my family sits on the hill behind my house that faces the main road since we can see fireworks in the surrounding neighborhoods and from the local amusement park, Sesame Place, from there. Last year I went to the mall parking lot with some friends earlier in the night to watch the sesame fireworks a bit closer, before the hill. Normally, while sitting on the hill our friends/neighbors come and join us to watch the fireworks. Sometimes we also light sparklers with our friends while waiting for fireworks.

One year, there were extravagant fireworks in the neighborhood across the street from mine so we set off in the car to find them. However, after at least an hour searching for the origin of the fireworks we could not find what house was setting them off.

While this was fun, my favorite memory of this night is the year we were sitting on the hill and very drunk man in his thirties walked by us. He couldn't even walk in a straight line and by the time he got to us we could tell he reeked of alcohol. He was a very happy drunk and started freaking out over the fact that things were exploding in the sky, fireworks. He then asked us where the neighborhood next to us was. We told him and then he continued to ask us repeatedly and kept laughing. He eventually started to walk in the direction of his apparent destination. In that direction there is a large pond down the hill next to the sidewalk. Once he got to the pond he appeared to walk into it however he quickly reappeared and laid down in the grass. Eventually he got back up and walked towards the pond and then turned around and headed back towards the neighborhood he had asked us for. By the end we were all laughing so hard we were crying.

Our other tradition happens a few days after the 4th of July. We go to our neighboring town for their "First Fourth" event. This event is held at a local middle school and includes lots of food for purchase as well as various other vendors. We set up chairs as close as we can to the fence and then walk around looking for friends and play Frisbee, catch, or play with glow sticks and toy helicopters as music plays. Once it gets dark, the music stops and the fireworks sponsored by a local Italian restaurant begin. Eventually, the show ends with a firework in the shape of an American flag and that marks the end of my Fourth of July traditions until the next year!

Photo By: Kara Seymour

Photo By: Jeff Werner

So, where do you watch fireworks or what else do you do to celebrate the Fourth of July? Please share in the comments below!