Finally after the week long heat wave ended (99 degrees and heat indexes of up to 108 degrees) we have cooler weather. The effects of the heat wave are still seen today and it ended on Friday night. The grass is spiky, dry and brown, and the firework festival that occurs yearly was jam-packed due to all the area towns cancelling AND banning firework displays due to the fire risks that were associated with them. Even pop-its and sparklers were banned due to the weather.
So, when we arrived at the firework display it was even more packed than usual. First display to go off since July 4th AND they are not your typical fireworks... not even close. It's a FREE show, too, and you just cannot beat that. The fire dept was on hand just in case, and they are set off on an island that is surrounded by water. We sit on the other side of the water to view them, which is probably why they went off still despite us not having rain and the heat.
The Red, White and Blue... in one shot (unplanned, actually, LOL)
This year they added music to go along with the July 4th theme and to the Sculptures. Yes, I said sculptures. They have wooden frames on the island that hold pictures created out of fireworks. It's amazing to see and something that words don't describe all that well. Still photos don't show much other than just fiery orange, but videos do capture it pretty well. I got some videos of all but the last sculpture (which read CUNXTYR) -- See you next year. :) I'll post the videos as I'm able to, because I may have to edit them to be allowed on gather, sadly. The sizes or format makes them unable to add here unless they are super short.
Spongebob Sculpture taken during filming Video. Can you see it?
Rocket Sculpture. A bit blurred and doubled.
They even had some fancy in-air fireworks that made smiles in the sky. Best display I've ever seen.
Another Smile.
The waterfall. Much more spectacular in video, though.
How about you? What's the best display you have seen and why is it the best?
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Comments: 27
Did you have similar dry weather in San Diego, too?
I used to make my own fireworks; my father had spent a summer as a teenager working in a fireworks plant, and when I was eight started teaching me to make them (by the time I was eight I had combined three chemistry sets and had my own lab in the garage). Safety was the most important factor we considered: we never had a major mishap, and the minor ones were mostly Dad's fault. We made fountains and flash powder; no rockets, since fireworks were then, as now, illegal in my hometown. But we'd shoot these off at 4th of July parties in our backyard and at neighbors' parties, and they were all very well received, and many were better than store-bought. When I was about 12, I served as Fire Marshall for one of the bigger parties (abut 50 or 60 people) and had to deal with the publisher of one of the biggest newspapers in the U.S. getting drunk and throwing firecrackers at little kids, and knocking a candle on a table into a box of store-bought fireworks.
But the idiots who blew up ROTC offices in the late 1960's blew it for all amateur pyrotechnicists; it became impossible (at least in California) to buy the necessary ingredients without a Pyrotechnicist's License. So now I light a wooden match and throw it up in the air. Big whoop.
When John Lindsay took office of Mayor of NYC back in 1966, he appointed his friend George Plimpton, the writer, editor and professional dilettante, as NYC Fireworks Commissioner. The job had not existed until then, so when Lindsay left office and was replaced by Abe Beame in 1974, Beame did not dismiss him be cause he didn't know about the office. So Plimpton remained NYC Fireworks Commissioner, possibly until his death in 2003. Plimpton was a fireworks fanatic, and wrote an excellent book on the subject. When an explosion in their New Jersey factory killed several members of a prominent Italian-American fireworks family, Plimpton was asked to deliver the eulogy.
I saw the Bicentennial fireworks display in Washington DC, standing on Francis Scott Key Bridge over the Potomac, but it was strangely unsatisfying, partially because I had some stranger's kid sitting on my shoulders, but mostly because it was a French firm whose work had been chosen for display. In memory of Lafayette, I suppose, but the fireworks were rather effete and delicate. I wish they had gone with an American company.
This is NOW FEATURED in Artistic Minds®.
You must have had a lot of FUN!
Thank you Rene. :)
Oooh what was the New Hampshire one like?
I really dislike thunderstorms, but at this point any rain is good, so I would even take one of those right now. The only problem with that is that if there is a lot of lightening, then a strike could be devastating, because it is so dry that the fire would spread like crazy.
The thunderstorms are so badly needed, but you bring up a good point about fires should lightning strike. It's just a lose/lose situation all around.
Last night we had some storms they were pretty strong, but not as bad as they were warning they'd be. Dumped a good amount of rain on us, but not nearly as much as we need.