How does your community do the 4th of July?

Started by tdindy88, July 03, 2018, 08:43:57 PM

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tdindy88

I figure this is timely for the upcoming holiday and I don't believe this has been asked before on this forum, but how does your town do their fireworks for the 4th of July? Living in Indianapolis I'm used to watching the fireworks from the top of the 36-story high Regions bank tower in Downtown. It made me start thinking about how rare, or not rare, it is for the fireworks to be launched from the top of a building. Most places I figure fire them from the ground, either in a park or along a waterfront. Last year I got to see New York City's fireworks from the East River and I know Chicago does their's from Lake Michigan, or right near it. I'm just curious on how other places do it around the country and any opinions on it.


LM117

No clue. I stay home and avoid the hellacious traffic. I'm out in the sticks just outside of city limits, so my neighbors always shoots off their own fireworks anyway, so I have no reason to leave the house.

Now, when I was growing up near Goldsboro, NC, fireworks were shot off at Berkeley Mall. Everybody parked in the mall parking lot and watched. I did that many times. They still have fireworks at the mall every year. The parking lot layout is a clusterfuck to begin with, so trying leave after the fireworks ended was always a bitch.
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hotdogPi

Fireworks are going off right now in my city/town. It's still the 3rd.
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webny99

#3
Several towns around here have their fireworks (they each do their own, but the real show is downtown) on a date other than the 4th itself. Webster doesn't do theirs until this Saturday, in conjunction with their yearly carnival. I've been hearing fireworks in the evenings, coming from random places, for a few weeks now.

Honestly, I remember more about the traffic caused by the downtown fireworks display than I do about the show itself! Traffic is atrocious before, during, and afterwards, especially off the freeway, where it can be virtual gridlock for hours.

02 Park Ave

My township stopped doing fireworks around five years ago for security reasons.
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roadman65

I live in an unincorporated part of the county with no organized community.  So no fireworks even nearby.  However, over 13 miles away in Orlando is Lake Eola and their annual Independence Day Fireworks plus the theme parks that offer them daily.
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Max Rockatansky

A shit load of fireworks all week.  So much so this year in the Fresno area they actually contributed heavily to a small dust storm last night.

jeffandnicole

2 towns near me have small parades in the moening; mostly the participants in the first one go straight to the 2nd one.

Other towns used to have fireworks on the 4th, but they mostly have them on other days now because it's cheaper.

ce929wax

People are shooting off fireworks in my neighborhood.  It terrifies my animals.

AsphaltPlanet

for whatever reason my community celebrates on July 1.
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ghYHZ

Quote from: AsphaltPlanet on July 03, 2018, 11:32:16 PM
for whatever reason my community celebrates on July 1.
Us too.....we had a pancake breakfast Sunday morning and fireworks in the evening

CNGL-Leudimin

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1995hoo

We usually stay home, but this year we have relatives in town, so we will go watch the fireworks over DC from somewhere on the Virginia side. Many of the local jurisdictions have their own fireworks except for the City of Alexandria, which does them the weekend after July 4 to mark the date the city was founded. But if you come here for this holiday, of course you want to go see the big show. We haven't determined exactly where we're going yet, and a wrinkle was thrown in last night when my wife hit a weird curb and cut a tire, so that car is at NTB. Should be fixed today, but if not, well, that's why we have extra cars.....
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commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

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tdindy88

Quote from: 1995hoo on July 04, 2018, 07:31:41 AM
But if you come here for this holiday, of course you want to go see the big show.

I have actually seen the DC fireworks, back in 2000, watched the fireworks on the National Mall, and then spent two hours getting to the platform at the Metro Center station afterwards.

1995hoo

Quote from: tdindy88 on July 04, 2018, 08:35:09 AM
Quote from: 1995hoo on July 04, 2018, 07:31:41 AM
But if you come here for this holiday, of course you want to go see the big show.

I have actually seen the DC fireworks, back in 2000, watched the fireworks on the National Mall, and then spent two hours getting to the platform at the Metro Center station afterwards.

In 1994, some friends and I got stuck under the Potomac for 90 minutes when a train ahead of ours had an issue. I haven't been downtown for the fireworks since.
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

jp the roadgeek

There is no official fireworks display within my town's limits, but there are two less than a mile from the town line.  One is at an amusement park, and the other is in a local park.  Many towns do it either the weekend before or on the 3rd.  I've usually been in town for the 4th, but in back to back years I got to see a couple of nice displays, one over the Inner Harbor in Baltimore (great show, and looking out at Fort Mac made it even more special) and the other over Lake George, NY.
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US71

Usually Fort Smith blows up a bunch of fireworks by the riverfront, accompanied by a local band playing in the key of off.

Springdale, AR has a rodeo parade on the 1st and 4th, then blows up stuff.

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MikeTheActuary

Towns in the area have fireworks shows scattered throughout the days surrounding the Fourth.

Hartford and Enfield have two of the larger displays, held the weekend after.

This is my first year working on a Canadian schedule.  Working today feels...odd.

index

Call the police on people for setting off fireworks. (Neighborhood I live in)


It's happened to my family before, apparently someone thought we were setting them off too late... Even though others were doing the same.
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cjk374

Simsboro used to have an organized fireworks show at the high school baseball park. That was 20+ years ago since the last one.
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jakeroot

Quote from: ghYHZ on July 04, 2018, 04:06:04 AM
Quote from: AsphaltPlanet on July 03, 2018, 11:32:16 PM
for whatever reason my community celebrates on July 1.
Us too.....we had a pancake breakfast Sunday morning and fireworks in the evening

What a couple of hosers!




My community usually celebrates by lighting some brush on fire, or blowing off some limbs.

Only a few towns in my area ban fireworks, so there's been some constant booming for the last few days. There are a bunch of Indian reservations nearby, which have test fields. Always some smoke driving by them this time of year.

J N Winkler

Wichita has two Fourth of July traditions:

*  City-sponsored fireworks display on the 4th itself.

*  Illegal use of high-powered fireworks that are legal in unincorporated Sedgwick County and the suburbs but not Wichita itself that is so extensive it prompts the City Council to consider discarding the fireworks ordinance for unenforceability, only to have pet owners and PTSD-suffering veterans not only dissuade them from doing so, but also cause them to promise some form of more stringent enforcement (the precise kind varies from year to year) that mysteriously fails to materialize.
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oscar

Quote from: 02 Park Ave on July 03, 2018, 09:37:05 PM
My township stopped doing fireworks around five years ago for security reasons.

Is anyplace in the Colorado mountains doing fireworks this year? Lots of fire bans, including one for the entire county where I am right now.

I brought some old glow sticks, which if they still work will give the kids in the soaking pool tonight an alternate celebration of the holiday.
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hbelkins

My little community does a big fireworks show.

I stay home to avoid the crowds, the heat (today is supposed to be the hottest day of the year, as a cooling trend is in the forecast for later this month and in August) and because I usually have to work the next day. When I lived in town, we could see the fireworks from our house (the noise was so bad it sent the cats running the first year we lived there when the first big boom went off) but at my age, fireworks don't carry any great interest.


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

Bruce

Fireworks are banned in my city and people seem to have gotten the message (only a few heard so far). There is an Indian reservation nearby that sells them by the bucket, so people go there.

Others just go to the many big shows put on in Seattle and the suburbs. The big show at Gas Works Park requires camping a day before to secure a spot.






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