Weekend Fireworks Roundup

Since I’m fairly certain that the Memphis blogsphere will cover this weekends two big downtown fireworks shows fairly well, I feel compelled as the one blogger from out here in East Jesusland (which is apparently any point beyond East Parkway) to talk about the goings on in the rest of Shelby County.

Saturday – Chandler, Daniel, Mary, Amber and I hit Shelby Farms for the “Star Spangled Celebration.” I learned from last year that attempting to press into the mass of teenagers swarming around the stage made for a somewhat distracting firework event, so we grabbed seats above a small pond just northwest of Patriot lake; lots of families and one exceptionally friendly dog out that way, not so much with the underage drunks.

We got there half way through the set of a pretty decent cover band that I’d never heard of. There was then a lot of indistinct yelling into a microphone followed by Hoobstank (who did a fair amount of indistinct yelling of their own). I’d never heard of them and if this show was indicative of what they usually play, I could really care less if I ever hear them again. There was one good song which was apparently their radio single.

The fireworks were pretty damned awesome. They also had the only patriotic medley this year to include Ray Charles (which is strangely important to me). Unlike the two other shows we saw this weekend, there’s no real way to get close to these, so you may as well sit back away from the crowd and soak it in. This was mine and Amber’s second year for this and it’s so totally worth the five bucks for parking (and the hike in). Traffic going out was particularly nasty since as we approached the parking lot the ratio of fun seeking families to obnoxious drunks began to reach parity.

Sunday -- Dinner at Mary’s. Not a public fireworks event, but pretty awesome chow.

Monday – Anna, Amber and I hit the Bartlett Fireworks Extravaganza; smaller crowd, better concessions, much funkier cover band, and much closer seats. The event takes place every year on the lawn of the Bartlett Performing Arts Center and are staged from the parking lot of Appling Middle School. From the south side of the lake you can look up or down to see the fireworks. It’s a pretty effect.

It was a longer show than last years and the shells were easily as large as those at Shelby Farms, including a few I’d never seen before. There was also, unfortunately, some sort of accident. Mary said that it was reported on the news that nobody was hurt, but about three quarters of the way through the show there were 6 symmetrical fireballs very close to where the caution tape was. We could feel the heat off of the blasts all the way across the water… I can only imagine what it felt like to the people in the front stands.

Tonight (July 4th) – Mary, Anna, Amber, and I made it out to Germantown for their annual fireworks show. I’m not sure how big the crowd was for the festival (which is apparently an all day thing) because we came in the back way and wound up sitting about 40 feet from the police safety line. These were without question the best seats I’ve ever had for a fireworks show. Paper from the shells was falling around us… we’re talking fiery death from above here! It was probably the shortest of the shows we saw this year but the rockin’ seats made up for it.

I have to give props to all of the public safety officials we encountered this weekend. Unlike some of the events I’ve gone to in Memphis in the past, everybody this weekend was polite, courteous, and efficient. Being polite when telling people for the umpteen-billion-and-sixth time that you can’t sit past the caution tape takes a special bit of effort. We the spectators appreciate it.

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On a completely different note, while I’ve been typing this, Amber has been watching Zathura behind me (think Jumanji in space) and I’m unavoidably reminded of this.