Fireworks…

Getting turned up for the big holiday, the 4th of July takes some far sighted planning. I have this friend who was huge into the 4th. He’d spend weeks buying and then planning his lighting off a display that would level the neighborhood. For months while on business trips he’d stop at other road side booths in states that allow the sale of the BIG stuff, things that go boom in the night.

Our small island town would literally explode with people from around the state coming in to see the town’s large fireworks display. For years my friend felt that he should out due the taxpayers and have his own display. Many of us would gather on the eve of the 4th in his front yard and watch him launch the BIG stuff out over the lake and drink his scotch when he wasn’t looking.

There were ooohhhs, and ahhhh’s from the front yard and from boaters out on the lake. He'd light off his display after the town’s show and it became an annual event until… till one year, one of his aerial salutes backfired and landed in a boat of a friend. Yes it went bang!

Now a days, we all leave it to the pros to light things off. Sitting in our lawn chairs with mint juleps in hand we toast the founding of our counrty and watch our grownup kids level the neighborhood with their own fireworks.
Only five weeks to the fourth, we all better start shopping for the BIG stuff..