My neighborhood has a parade on the evening of th 3rd. The city has fireworks in the 4th so the parade is the day before so as not to conflict. Because a mid-day parade in Louisisna in July is a bad idea…
On the 4th itself we will visit family about an hour away. They live next to a country club neighborhood that has a nice fireworks display. So we will hang out by their pool, eat their BBQ, and watch the adjacent neighborhood’s fireworks. Might even be able to hear the band from the country club.
When I was a kid we would have a big neighborhood party. In past years we’ve gone to see the fireworks downtown, watched local ones from mom’s condo, had family parties.
This year we will have our first 4th at our canal house. Some family members will join us. Grilling, drinks, talk, laughter, and watching the bald eagles. No fireworks.
Made dinner reservations at a nice place near a park with a fireworks show. The place is expensive and not close to where the major madness will be happening. Hope my niece is not going to be disappointed that we will not be celebrating with the cool crowd, i.e. packed like sardines.
We live in a tourist area and have a seasonal business, so it’s all work and no play for us
If we are lucky , we will be able to relax later in the evening .Our town shoots off fireworks about a mile form where we live so if the sky is clear, we can watch from our house
I love fireworks and don’t think there’s been a 4th I haven’t seen them somewhere. One reason is that my county hosts fireworks in two locations, and one is within walking distance of my house, which makes it easy since all the streets around the fireworks area will be closed. I’m planning a picnic earlier that day. Now if only my weather app wasn’t showing rain for Monday…
Raclut, the article is somewhat misleading. The official fireworks shows put out by municipalities are not banned. As far as I know, the Gasworks park show is on and so are many other towns’ shows. What is (and has been banned for many years now) is shooting of fireworks by individuals. Depending on the location, sales have been banned, too. My rural suburbia has been banning all fireworks for as long as we have lived here. And I agree with that - horses and other animals do not appreciate the noise and the light.
We’ll go for a hike or mountain bike in the western mountains of Maine,go to the local arts festival, have some bar-b- for dinner, take a hot tub, and then go watch fireworks on the golf course fairway with the rest of the small town.
One of my favorite days of the year for sure. It has historically been beautiful weather.
I also live in a tourist town. I’m not sure if we have a 4th of July parade but I think we might. I avoid downtown in the summer months. Until the last few years we would spend the day at our locals only beach and come home and watch the fireworks in the distance. It was good enough viewing for us. The last 3 years we have braved the crowds and gone down to our local Marina. We have relatives who have a boat. They do a potluck on the boat and we catch the fireworks from the dock. The city does a good display that they set off over the ocean. Which is a good call since we are in a severe drought. The downside of going to the marina is finding parking. I’m not sure what il bring for the meal.
Many years ago we lived in Santa Monica. One year due to violence at the nightly 4th display they did a by dawns early light display.
DD was born on July 4th (in 1998) so wherever we are, we have a patriotic cake, most of the time with sparklers on top. She’s spent several birthdays at the beach, which has been fun for her and sort of makes up for the fact that she never got to be the birthday girl at school when she was younger.
This year when she turns 18 we will actually be in Vienna (Austria, not Virginia) so I don’t think we can count on any fireworks and I’m not about to try to take sparklers with us in our luggage or carry-on bags…
Having the kids and their friends to the lake cottage all 3 days…I’m almost done shopping and my food prep begins tomorrow! I’m exhausted already. You should see all the food!!! On Saturday they shoot fireworks off from a barge in the middle of the lake to music on the radio station. All the boats and pontoons are out there…it’s a nice tradition.
It never dawned on me to put sparklers on my cake!! Thanks for the tip, Gnocchib! I am with your D, I hated having a summer birthday. But now I kind of like it - no matter what, I almost always get a day off to celebrate.
Not too long after my last post, I ended up being invited to another bbq this past long weekend. Ended up going to 2 BBQs in all this past long weekend.
First one at a friend’s backyard in Brooklyn and the second in another friend’s backyard in Queens.
Had a great time hanging out and eating/drinking my fill.
Here’s the final food/drink consumption tally by day:
Brooklyn BBQ:
5 German style sausages(2 spicy, 1 with spinach, 2 sweet)
3 hamburgers
1 veggie burger
1 chicken kabob marinated in spicy curry sauce
1 veggie kabob with same sauce
A few handfuls of nachos, strawberries, and blueberries
~4-5 bottles of beers ranging from Yuenling to various IPAs from Sierra Nevada and Double Victory.
Queens BBQ:
2 grilled mushrooms marinaded in a nice savory sauce
1 entire grilled steak grilled rare
1 serving of potato salad
1 serving of fruit salad
2 slices each of angel food cake and rhubarb pie. Had 2 scoops of premium vanilla ice cream which was really good.
2 bottles of beer* alongside numerous servings of grape juice and other fine summertime drinks.
And all of that was actually in compliance with doctor’s orders as at the last appointment, she said I was several pounds under the minimum ideal weight for my height.
We ended up working with my brother and SisIL to help with major decluttering of my folk’s place–lots of expired foodstuffs, van loads of trash and donations. They spent all 3 days doing it–we could only handle 2 days (had to take a break between the 2 days we helped).
