July 4th was on Friday which for those of you who don’t know, is Independence Day in the USA.
There was a band, picnic, games, and fireworks at a park right near my house.
I went to that with my wife and had a lot of fun.
But I don’t want to write about that today. I want to write about how I used to celebrate July 4th with my mother.
When I was a kid my mom and I always went to a fireworks celebration on July 3rd at the Frost Amphitheater on Stanford campus.
The celebration at Frost Amphitheater happened on July 3rd so that all the people that worked at it could enjoy the real holiday with their own families.
It never mattered much to my mother and me which day we were celebrating July 4th on. One day for a celebration of Independence is as good as another.
The event starts with waiting in line.
There are a few seats that you can reserve, but they were quite expensive. Most people just got lawn tickets.
Lawn tickets don’t come with assigned seating, so the earlier you get there the better your seat is.
We would sit in line for an hour or two with all our picnic stuff, baskets and coolers of food, games, pillows, blankets, etc.
Once inside we’d set up on the lawn and wait for the music to start.
When we first started going the band was usually a giant orchestra that played lots of classical music.
Later on they switched to more popular bands that people could dance to like Cherry Popping Daddies.
I liked the classical music better, but listening to the Cherry Popping Daddies got me interested more and more in swing dancing.
The concert would go on until dark and then the band would announce the fireworks coming up.
The fireworks were set off behind the amphitheater and looked like every other fireworks show.
After the explosions were over everyone packed up their stuff and left, just like every other fireworks show.
They’ve stopped doing the July 3rd event, but I’ve started missing it more and more lately.
Maybe they’ll start it up again next year!
-Mister Ed
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