Dear lord.
I just kept saying that over and over. I was prepared for some spectacle, but nothing like this.
A few weeks ago we started to hear rumblings about the annual 4th of July fireworks--not the ones you see on TV direct from The Mall, not any anything put together by the local Rotarians or Jaycees--the fireworks in Petworth, our neighborhood.
Now, many areas have all sorts of amateur fireworks in backyards and streets, but Petworth has a long tradition of being filled with, as one neighbor put it, "fireworks enthusiasts."
I would challenge you to find anything, anywhere, to rival what we saw last night. I would include, in this challenge, any war zones you may have visited.
It started with firecrackers and bottle rockets, then after 9pm, progressed into a full arsenal of really, really big fireworks...for the following five hours. From all directions. It was insane. At times the smoke rolling down the street was so thick that it seemed we were in a fog. It is nothing organized, just fellow Petworthians risking blowing off a limb or burning down their homes to entertain their friends and neighbors.
We had about ten friends over to witness this with us. Our friend Carrie said "I went to the municipal fireworks in Akron every year growing up, and they were never as good as this." Another guest said, "I think I've seen more fireworks tonight than I've seen in my entire life combined."
Here are a bunch of photos posted to Flickr from last night's Petworth craziness. And another that someone I know took. Here is a shot of the smoke rolling down our alley. Here are some of my idiot friends on our porch watching the spectacle.
We probably witnessed tens of thousands of dollars of fireworks last night. "I wonder how they pay for all these fireworks," one friend commented. "Oh, I can guess," I responded. "And we probably don't want to know how they paid for all this."
Can't wait for next year.
