4th of July Fun

Our little city has some really fun July 4th activities.   We walked to our local park this morning to watch the annual parade.  It was cool and overcast and a perfect morning for sitting outside watching the parade.

I won’t bore you with gobs of photos from the parade, but here are a couple.   Starting with Uncle Sam.

The old cars are favorites…and then we’ll move on.

After the parade, we headed over to the history museum.  There were lots of old fashioned activities like live music, log sawing, pie eating contests and a watermelon seed spitting contest.

The 1812-1814 militia drill and volley became a near tragedy.   In the photo below there are 4 militia men firing their weapons.  The second gun, (held by the man in blue pants) didn’t fire, but the man didn’t realize it.   It may have not fired on the next volley.  However on the last volley the charge hit and all the black powder ignited at once, exploding the back end of the gun and knocking the shooter backwards several feet.    He had to be taken to an emergency care facility to remove a piece of the gun from his cheek, and get stitches in his face.

Across the way, Olivia and friends were performing in a Tableaux Vivante, and it was a scream.

Here we see the Four Seasons.  Spring (the blushing bride), Summer (cradling the babe), Autumn (sweeping) and Winter (hunched).

Romeo and Juliette.

Cinderella (Olivia is the mean step-mother).

I will spare you all the other scenes (because my kid isn’t in those, grins).   The Grand Finale…the 13 original states, represented by their state flag symbol.  Olivia is South Carolina.

We’ll finish up our celebration by attending the city fireworks later tonight.  I wont’ have photos…trust me, I’m not good with a camera in the dark.

Happy Independence Day!