Sandy and I celebrate dual holidays on the Fourth: it's Independence Day, and it's also our anniversary! We went to watch fireworks last night ...

Anyway. We usually have a one big show based on Red Mountain. This year, the owner of a local chain of fireworks stores tried to get in on the big show, the deal collapsed, so the local chain said, "fine, we'll put on our own show. You have been warned."

(Implied: our show will make the original show look like a single firecracker.)

We went to the "official" show last Saturday; it was good, even though there was a light rain.

But last night ... well, the local fireworks dude showed us how it was DONE. It looked like something from Disney World. He fired off a hundred bursts in a matter of seconds; the sky filled with smoke, obscuring some of the later shots!

But the highlight was the finale, which featured "dueling fireworks." The radio started playing "Dueling Banjos," and a second fireworks show -- just as big as the first, mind you -- opened up on the other side of the mountain. All in all, they fired off several thousand bursts (to give you an idea, the Big Show on Mt. Rushmore last night only fired off 28,000, so wee little B'ham had a show that was in that league; people were standing around with dumb smiles on their face).

We're happy. Deaf, and choking from the smoke, but happy. :)

Hope you had a good Fourth, too.

-- Anonymous, July 05, 2001

Answers

Other places have firesworks? Do you do them over water like we do? If not, do they start fires?

-- Anonymous, July 06, 2001

Cherri,

Of COURSE we have fireworks, and no, we don't set them off over water. We're Southerners; if it starts a fire, we just have a quick and impromptu barbeque while we wait for the red trucks. :)

In NC, firework sales are illegal. I grew up only playing with those which we were able to smuggle up from South Of The Border (a big tourist trap near Dillon, SC, for those who've never been on I-95). They're perfectly legal here, anything up to (and possibly including, if it's a small one, anyway) nukes.

So, we actually enjoyed fireworks all night. All the way home, the locals were setting off their own. All night long here in our apartment complex, people were setting them off.

And no one was seriously hurt, as far as I know. There were no fires, either.

Proof that we Rednecks KNOW our pyrotechnics. :)

-- Anonymous, July 08, 2001