A great 4th of July discovery

Our little family has always enjoyed small town 4th of July celebrations. In Oregon we went to McMinnville several times, Forest Grove, and Independence. This year, there were many places we could have gone, but we wanted to find something with that small town feel. I searched around on the web and found that the small town of Lillington, North Carolina, about twenty-five miles from our house, has one of the biggest fireworks shows in the state. It is a small town and their 4th of July celebration definitely did not disappoint! Here is what their webpage says about the town:

The Harnett County Seat, Lillington a picturesque town with a population of about 4,000 nestled in the heart of North Carolina. The beautiful Cape Fear River meanders through town as it flows to the Atlantic.

Just north of Fort Bragg and Fayetteville, and south of North Carolina’s state capital city of Raleigh, Lillington is perfectly located close enough so that the big city opportunities are just a commute while providing the comforts of a small town lifestyle.

Our town is a fine place to live and raise a family, re-locate or start a business, or retire. There is something for everyone in Lillington.

We got there about 6:00 in the evening. So we would have a reasonable chance of getting away after the party, we parked about a half mile away from the carnival, bandstand (with a live band playing classic rock–name “The Grand Oz” or something like that). We grabbed our chairs, fried chicken, drinks, and camera and set ourselves up by the baseball field between the Republican Party booth and some of the food stands. It was awesome–exactly what we were looking for. The local police put on quite a show on the baseball field with their K9 corp–the dogs found some drugs and explosives hidden in a car, subdued a bad guy, and then sat patiently while the kids petted them. The politicians were there passing at cards and shaking hands. A rather tipsy woman who must have been in her late fifties and was dressed like a hippie danced quite joyfully by herself in front of the band. I am sure there were literally a thousand other towns around America where this same celebration took place.

We were just getting seated to watch the fireworks when it started to rain. The sky was very dark and it looked like it was going to start coming down hard. Lots of other people were packing up to leave, so we did, too. We were pretty disappointed, but by the time we got to our car, the rain had stopped. We noticed that there were lots of people setting up in the parking area near our car to watch the fireworks, so instead of heading home, we stayed to see if the weather would hold long enough for the fireworks to continue. Providence was on our side. We watched kids playing with sparklers and setting off other fireworks until the real show started.

The fireworks were awesome. I do not think they were as good as the massive fireworks display we saw when Kelly was just a baby in West Palm Beach, but they were close and the setting seemed a whole lot more representative of the America in which I was raised. As long as we are here in North Carolina, we will go back there to celebrate the 4th of July. Hopefully, next year, we will take some other people with us.

P.S. Christian figured out the settings on the camera and took some nice fireworks pictures. The one in this blog post was one of them.
Interesting stuff: While chess boxing does not look like that much fun to do, it might be fun to watch.