Many years ago, we always went to a family friends house on July 4th. Large piece of property, lots of small lakes and islands from years of shellrock quarrying. We always had several gross of whistling moon rocket bottle rockets and used the islands for bases for bottle rocket wars. Some years we broke out the canoes to include naval assets to the carnage. One of the men was a licensed pyrotechnician and made homemade ordnance. One year he made a candy mortar for the kids. Picture a five gallon bucket with a 4" tube surrounded with concrete. He used a cut 2 liter bottle to house the candy. First attempt launched the candy to God and the astronauts, the kids were like "WTF dude?". Second time he inverted the housing but while it worked, it also burned all the wrappers to the candy, once again the kids, "WTF dude?". Third time was the charm. 3,2,1 we have lift off and candy rained down from the heavens. Good times.

Back when I was a kid we used to spend most Independence Days camping at a lake just outside of Glacier Park, with some family friends who lived up there. This was back when you could still buy firecrackers and other real fireworks, before the nanny state. We used to light them and toss them out onto the lake, the idea being to time it so that it went off just as it hit the water. Splooshhhh! When we got bored with that we would find an ant hill, light one and drop it down the entry hole. The .gov would be amazed to find that I still have all of my fingers.

Nowadays I usually just sit at home and try to comfort my dog.

Dad had a "cannon" made from a truck axel.

Picture a solid metal cylinder, 3 1/4 inches in diameter by 7 inches long.

With a barrel about 3/4 inch.

And a fuse hole on the side.

It was the loudest bang in three camp grounds.
He used black gun powder, some paper and a stick jammed in the end.

The last year we used it ,I was 10 y.o. and got to set it off.

The sheriff came over at about nine o clock,
He said two campers across the lake complained as their children were in bed..

I wish I had that thing today

This message has been edited. Last edited by: bendable,

Parade and spending the day on the town square, plus pretty much everyone in town at the college football field that night for the bicentennial fireworks was a stellar day for a fifteen year old that will forever live in my memory.

Fourth of July weekend, 2004. That’s when my wife and I first became a couple. This coming fourth will be our 21st Fourth of July together.

quote:

Originally posted by Beancooker:
Fourth of July weekend, 2004. That’s when my wife and I first became a couple. This coming fourth will be our 21st Fourth of July together.

Very cool! Mrs. chbibc and I became a couple on the same weekend 15 years prior to you two utes!

Early 1950's, the small city where I grew up had a parade in the morning. Our high school band always participated.

July 4th evening, current and former high school band musicians would assemble in the bandstand in the park for a concert, conducted by the high school's music director. There might be more than a hundred musicians on the stage.

We always started with the National Anthem and the final encore piece was always Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever." We had a piccolo player who had gone on to a symphonic career after a Juilliard scholarship; she never failed to receive a standing ovation.

*For legal purposes, this is completely made up and only for entertainment, but...

Back in the 80's I remember my dad buying fireworks from some guy who came over to our house with a pickup truck full of stuff. He bought a firecracker the size of a soup can. We had an empty field next to our house where he lit it. The whole neighborhood went quiet and nobody lit anything else for several minutes, and this was in an area where you could hear automatic weapons fire on the 4th.

I now live in a completely different part of the country and we don't light fireworks too much in the desert. I feel like my kids have really missed out on a classic American kid experience, but I don't want to start a wildfire and burn down the neighborhood.

I also remember in my high school years being in the marching band. I put a few handfuls of assorted fireworks in my trombone case and lit them at the high school after the 4th of July parade. Good times, and I'd probably go to prison now for doing such things.