Happy 3rd of July!!!

Yesterday (July 3^rd) the Eagle River Lion’s Club held it’s annual 3^rd of July Extravaganza. This seemed quite odd to me since it was the third not the fourth but upon speaking with some members of the congregation it was made clear on the reasoning behind it. The 4^th falls on a Monday and people return to work on Tuesday so staying out late on the third allows for a day or recuperation. Secondly in the summer in Alaska the sun does not set until close to midnight and it is not fully dark until 1:00am. The fireworks here were launched at midnight which is technically the 4^th of July, so it really is a 4^th of July celebration.

After church I went home took the dog Toonie for a walk, and then was invited to dinner with a family from the congregation. After dinner I ventured to the Lion’s Club Park. There were a lot of people and I found a convenient parking spot in the Wal-Mart parking lot since this is only a few blocks from the main event.

Once in the park the first thing I noticed was silly string EVERYWHERE. I saw a booth where it was being sold “One can for $4.00 or  six cans for $20.00”. As I walked around I was hit from behind with a long strand of blue silly string. I turned around to find several teens chasing after one another each with several cans of silly string.

I continued on to find several stands of typical “carnival” function. Funnel cakes, hot dogs, pretzels, nachos, ice cream, you get the idea.  I made my way over to the “main stage” and found the master of ceremonies; Uncle Sam. He was all decked out in red, white and blue attire. He was at that moment directing a wheelbarrow relay race with the 5-6 year-old age group. I watched the 5 & 6 year olds try to figure out how to hold their partner, or walk on their hands. It was cute.

I then wandered over to the other stage to discover the air force band singing the recent pop culture tune “I'm Yours” made popular by Jason Mraz.

I found a comfy spot on the field and sat. I was chilly and regretted not bringing a heavier coat, but midnight soon arrived.

The fireworks were good. They were not over the top amazing but they were good for my standards. I think they would have been better if it would have been dark. At the time they were launched off (midnight) it was not dark but more of a dusky light setting. In some ways it is good that they did not wait until later to launch them because I had another full day of 4^th of July events early the next morning.

11:30pm