I wanted to send out a warm greeting and wish everyone well on this 4th of July.
In America, Independence Day, known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from Great Britain.
It’s a Holiday so it gives everyone a day off from work!
But to many, it’s a lot more.
Firecrackers, Bottle Rockets, Ash Cans, Sparklers, Smoke Bombs, and of course matches and lighters to spark up the fuses.
It’s amazing how many packs of firecrackers we’d go through.
16th street, Windsor Place, Howard, Fuller, you name it, we lit something off somewhere around the neighborhood. Remember how there was always that one adult who was the center of attention?
The guy who had the most fireworks?
The one father who had the loudest, most colorful explosions?
How come they always waited so late to shoot them off? It’s like the guy was sitting by his window, watching everyone outside shoot theirs off and then he made the grand entrance.
Seems like we waited forever…
Barbecues, baseball games (stickball in our case), parades, going over to the East Side River to watch the colorful fireworks, and of course Coney Island.
I recall going down to Chinatown and trying to score some explosives – it was wild! Runners going up to cars stopped at red lights on Canal street hawking their merch.
“FIREWORKS, FIREWORKS, YOU NEED FIREWORKS?” they would ask.
The one thing I don’t understand on the 4th is the Hot Dog eating contest at Nathan’s! How can any human being devour that many dogs? I can barely eat two!
Have a great fourth!
-SF
Hoops135@hotmail.com
