Fourth of July parades and firework memories

          I experienced the Montezuma Let Freedom Ring Parade from a different vantage point this year – a lawn chair.
         I typically enjoy walking among the floats as they roll along Main Street while taking photos of the crowd, capturing the kids gathering candy and other fun activities.
            Having had back surgery and using a walker outdoors, I was a bit limited this year and found solace at the southwest corner of Main and Third streets.
            I had to deal with the sun and crowds that quickly gathered in front of me, making it nearly impossible to see the floats and take photos.
           I understand, kids and families all get excited about filling their bags with candy and are not always aware of those around them.
              It’s a lesson we can all learn from.
               I still was able to take a few good photos and enjoyed taking in the sunny weather.
         I met a family that was visiting our fine city that recognized Debbie and me as the authors and publishers of our “Family Reunion: Midwest Old Threshers” book.
              The lady talking with me said I took a photo of her son.
              “You took his photo and it’s in the book,” she said. “He was 7 then.”
            That would have been in 2007, so that makes him around 26 or so. He said this year his family will have camped at the Old Threshers for 27 years.
              This year will mark our 18th year to camp at the Midwest Old Threshers Reunion. It would have been year 19 had Covid not halted the reunion in 2020.
            Anyway, there was nice crowd and a variety of floats during Saturday’s parade. It was a nice move on the Montezuma Community Development to honor our local veterans as the parade grand marshals. It was also good to see my dear friend, Ron Hensel, aka Ron the Barber, in the parade. He was seated in his wife, Bea’s, Ford Mustang as they rolled along the parade route.
            Ron had a stroke in March last year and his health had declined rapidly. And most recently, he was diagnosed with ALS. It led to him retiring in early June after 60 years as a barber in Indianola, Des Moines and Montezuma.
            He opened Ron’s Barber Shop on the Montezuma Square in September 2008 and cut my hair more times than I can count. I’ve probably lost a lot more hair than I got haircuts.
            I always enjoyed stopping at the barbershop and chatting with Ron and meeting some of the many savory locals who stopped to shoot the bull, talk politics and gossip a bit.
            Ron, the former commander of the legion who led the charge to build a new legion hall, has always been a defender of all veterans. For years, he’s hosted Memorial Day services and was Johnny on the spot in bringing the Freedom Rock to Montezuma 10 years ago.
            And Bea has been the leader of the American Legion Auxiliary. 
           What a blessing he has been to the Montezuma Community. Thank you Ron and Bea for your service to the United States and to Montezuma.
           This year’s celebration included pie eating and greased pig contests. SUDS foam spray was on hand as a sprinkler was set up for the kids to enjoy.
            There was a dunk tank, bouncy houses, lots of good food, including the annual Lions Club Chicken BBQ feast, and much more.
Moving on
            I always looked forward to the Fourth of July as a kid.
            My dad would stop at OK Fireworks in west Tulsa near where he worked at a factory and pick up one of the advertised special fireworks box filled with Roman candles, firecrackers, bottle rockets, sparklers and more.
           It didn’t take me long to go through the box of firework goodies. My favorites were Black Cats and bottle rockets.
          A box of firework explosives cost around $12 or so in the 1970s. That’s a far cry from what it costs today. 
       I was a bit onery as a youngster and enjoyed blowing up ant hills and also catching and tying grasshoppers to bottle rockets and shooting them off.
          My friends and I would find a pop bottle and shoot so many bottle rockets that it turned the bottle black.
         I don’t shoot off fireworks these days. One of these years I’m going to try and photograph people shooting off fireworks. I’ve never done that.
          A few year ago I ventured down on the Lake Ponderosa Causeway to take photos of the pyrotechnicians getting ready for the evening show.
            That was kind of scary as the fireworks, which looked like bowling balls on a rope, were placed by hand in PVC pipes housed in a wooden frame.
            The wicks were then secured to electronic cables to allow the pyrotechnician to fire them off from a computer relay located nearby on the causeway.
              It’s an interesting process to watch a fireworks show unfold.
            Some years ago, I attended a Civil War re-enactment at the Poweshiek County Fairgrounds. The event was run by one of the local Civil War groups in the county and area and was designed to teach students in fifth grade hands-on history, including patching up a wounded soldier from the battlefield.
              These fellows, who are all re-enactors, would bring a real cannon and fire that thing off for the kids.
          I did have some luck photographing the blasting of the cannon. The key in getting a good photo is timing and keeping your ears plugged.
            Now that I’m getting older, I find myself plugging my ears during the Fourth of July parade from all the fire trucks, police vehicles and ambulances blowing their sirens.
            With several sirens going off at the same time, it can be deafening. 
            I hope you had a great Fourth of July and were able to cookout and spend time with family and friends.
          The best part of it all is the opportunity to thank God for his many blessings as we celebrate this nation’s 250th birthday.
            Remember that Good Things are Happening, every day and always.