Yeesh. The blog title asks the right question. Does anyone celebrate July 4th with actual fireworks on the ACTUAL 4th of July? Here we are on July 4, 2009, and we can’t find any fireworks celebrations. They’re on July 2, July 3, July 5. We found some listed on July 4th, so we headed out a little late to one location about 15 mins away. We left at 9pm, because Josh wasn’t feeling well, and wanted to give him some time to eat dinner slowly and then head out.
We drove out to Cranbury NJ for the 9:30pm show, and the town is deserted. Listen, if there are going to be fireworks, there’s a large crowd, police directing traffic, etc. Nothing on the roads. We reach Village Park, and we find an empty parking lot. O-kay. Quick! Drive to Monroe, NJ! We have 8 minutes until 9:30pm. Lo and behold, we find fireworks going off in the sky, hundreds of people streaming to their cars, and bedlam as people leave the area. Did I mention that the fireworks were still going on over the treetops? We were very confused.
We pulled into an office park, and got stuck there while everyone left in disorderly fashion. We took the kids, and stood on the sidewalk to watch the rest of the fireworks finale, which lasted about 5 mins. Then we spent another 45 mins trying to get out and go home.
Life with kids. What do you expect? Better luck next year!