The Holiday Weekend

It's Sunday of the 4th of July weekend. I have Monday off as well, so I can slough off longer than some of you. We've already had a good time, but we also opened the question, is the 4th of July a great holiday?

Our town has a very nice set of July 4th activities, going on all day, in our big lakeside park. There's food and drink, softball, fire department-sponsored hose battles, a kids' pudding-eating contest (courtesy of the local Swiss Miss pudding factory), live music, a petting zoo, crafts, a water-ski show, etc., and fireworks at night. On the other hand, it's been the same for a number of years, so we go to have a little lunch, see who's out and about, and watch an event, then we go home for a nap. The fireworks are better viewed from the downtown lake overlook, as it has fewer mosquitoes and fewer crazies setting off their own fireworks, which they do right among the viewers in the park; we didn't even go downtown the past few years, as the folks they hire seem to set off about one shot a minute. We had dinner at a friend's house and went home just about at dark.

Ah, but I opened the day with a stint at the laundromat (appliances still in garage). And I ran some shopping survival errands. Then there was the sign at the park entrance: "Welcome to Freedom Fest! No coolers. No carry-ons. No parking in beach area." Independence Day, my ass. So, all in all, I had a very nice day but not a thriller.

Yesterday, we went up to see our daughter and her boyfriend in the Twin Cities. We visited the "Taste of Minnesota" festival in St. Paul, and spent too much money for parking, too much money for food and drink tickets and beer wristbands, and too many tickets for most food and drink. Ah, but the "Little Charlie" filet sandwich, the shrimp skewer and the deep-fried lobster on a stick were tasty, and the Element 115 beer was dark and full-flavored but well-hopped, so crisp and thus good on a hot day. Then we went to the Twins' baseball game at the Metrodome. This would have been a lovely evening for outdoor baseball (the Twins' new outdoor stadium will be ready for the 2010 season), but we got $7 seats (outfield upper deck), and had some hot dogs and beers, and we got to see a fun ball game. The Cleveland Indians went up 5 to 2, but the Twins came back gradually and won 9 to 6. I didn't hear the attendance, but Ross and I guessed that something over 30,000 were there (31,887 as reported in the box score this morning). Food lines were long, as it seemed many of the upper deck concession stands were closed, but all in all it made for a fine evening at the ballpark.
So we had a very nice day.

It came up that one of our friends remembers not liking the 4th of July. This led us to think back about how each of us ranked the day. Was it a special holiday, like Christmas or Thanksgiving? No. Was it just a day off? In my case, not always. Was it, like our day this year, nice but not outstanding? Was the celebration of our nation's declaration of independence an important part of the day? Nobody mentioned that at all.

Every one of us, however, thought back to our recollections of the 4th when we were kids. Did we go to the park, did we remember fireworks? Pretty much yes. Did anyone recall special family customs? Wendy remembers the bike and wagon parade for kids at her local park; there wasn't anything else.

So: we take the day off (many of us), we grill out, we go to the local park, we drink some beer or lemonade, we watch fireworks or shoot off our own, and we don't get too worked up. Uh, I should probably mention our neighbors here. They have their biggest gathering of the year, with plenty of friends and family. They drape the house and fence in bunting. The guy mows a mini golf layout in his lawn and sets up the obstacles, which are reminders of US history (he's a teacher). And they have a bit of a ground fireworks show. So it may be more fair to say, some of us don't get all worked up.

Is the 4th of July, Independence Day, anyone's favorite or most meaningful holiday? I'll take input, but I'm starting from no. Maybe we need to take a little more time with the civics.