Holiday Weekend Day 4

After spending a few hours at the water park (we have amazing tans now) and relaxing at home we went to the main event of the evening - the concert and fireworks show at Southern Man's home town (well, he claims it as home; it's to where the family moved when he was in first grade, and where his parents live to this day).


Photo by Google Earth.

Today this is City Park, with the sidewalks outlining a stylized boot and the state-shaped parking lot. Forty years ago it was forty-ish acres of undeveloped land. The strip of houses on the right was on the edge of town; Southern Boy lived in the upper-right corner and that big open field full of bike trails and gullies and washouts and that almost inaccessible pond down on the south end was his back yard for about a decade, before the move out to the five acres northeast of town where his folks live today. Good times, those were, back in the day when we could head out right after breakfast and the only command from Mom was "be home by dark."


Daughter with Southern Man's Father.

Southern Man's little home town (well, medium-sized suburb today) always gets the big-city philharmonic orchestra and chorus for Independence Day and they put on a rousing program with the usual favorites: Sousa and Copland and Gershwin and...Abba. Yes, we were treated to a medley of Swedish pop. No doubt the children were a bit taken aback to see their parents happily dancing and singing to such strange music.


The orchestra and chorus at the Grand Gazebo. Why, yes, that is Sandi Patti there in the red. Sadly, she wasn't in on the Abba medley.

They always close the concert with Stars and Stripes Forever and launch the first rockets at the piccolo obbligato. The kids broke out the glow-sticks (no sparklers this year due to widespread drought and subsequent burn bans) and pranced about and a good time was had by all.


Daughter and her cousin.