It’s not exactly the night before Thanksgiving, but the third of July can be a pretty good party night in its own right. With everybody having the day off on the 4th, the fireworks, BBQs, and festivities can get kicked off properly the night before. We’ve made it a tradition to go watch fireworks somewhere in the area; this year was no different.
Chicago didn’t have a show this year; yeah, that was kind of big news. We do have the Navy Pier fireworks 2x per week in the summer, but an official 4th of July show??? Not in this, the 3rd biggest in the USA, city… kind of messed up if you think about it. All the money the city spends on BS like our mayor’s personal grooming… who needs to spend that much on personal grooming? One ugly MFer I guess… I spend minimal on my personal appearance; natural beauty…. haha. So no fireworks in the city proper, and with fireworks being illegal, I’m sure it will be a quiet holiday… haha. So we drove to the burbs to see a really nice show. We stopped for a nice dinner before proceeding to the spot. We had to park about a mile away, so I threw the chairs over my shoulders, and got to walking. My son brought a football to toss around too. It was a nice night… a nice way to kickoff the holiday celebration.
The only thing missing from the fireworks show was some background music. I remember watching on TV as a kid, and they always had some background music playing… whether it was classical, or patriotic… something that plays hand in hand with the display. They did have some entertainers up on a stage singing some popular music BEFORE the fireworks started; it would have been annoying had they played during the fireworks. Oh well, you can’t have everything.
I remember back in the day, the big firework show in the city would correspond with the Taste of Chicago. Hundreds of thousands of people would flock downtown for all the great food vendors, drinks, and entertainment that was the Taste of Chicago. I would walk over there during the week from work too. But on the 3rd, as the skies turned dark, the fireworks would begin. I would be sitting there in Grant Park watching the sky light up. Afterwards, many of us would make our ways to public transportation; that was fun. It was absolutely packed as we all walked down the middle of the street towards the el. Fun times.
We have spent the 4th in other cities too. Miami, LA, NY and Vegas come to mind; can’t lie… seeing the fireworks go off over the ocean… pretty sweet. Or how about with Lady Liberty in the background? Pretty nice, although our view was a bit obstructed in NYC. Vegas? Yeah, we poked our heads out of the casino, and watched the sky above the strip light up. Many great memories on the 4th, and now, another great show on the 3rd… on to the holiday.
Leave a Reply