Back in the Day: Fireworks Displays
When seat belts were optional and patient parents were a thing.
This might be seen through some rose colored glasses, but I remember being shuttled to almost every fireworks display at the Dundas Driving Park.
Dundas is a small valley town about a 10 minute drive from where we lived in Hamilton, ON and every time there was fireworks - we went. It’s been said that the GenX generation was the forgotten generation as we were the kids with the house keys around our neck and way to much unsupervised play.
This was true, and memory might be incorrect, but we also got to go to a lot of events and of course we didn’t celebrate the fourth, but we had our own party. This was a different time to be sure with different rules:
The first being lack of seat belts. They may be there, but they were just decorations.
We slid across the vinly back seat of the Ford Country Squire - complete with wood paneling as we drove down the valley to Dundas. Sometimes we would be able to bounce around the backwards facing rear seat.
There were no brand name or even no-name snacks for the fireworks display. We had home-made popcorn that was made with a pot, some popcorn and some hope it didn’t burn1
If we were good we might have been able to bring a Pop Shoppe drink to wash it all down. Of course there was never a lack of a can/bottle opener around so that was never a problem
We would somehow find a parking spot big enough to slip that huge monstrosity of a car into and grab our snacks and blankets and got on what seemed like forever of a walk that was probably only four blocks. It always confused my little mind that although it was called a driving park we had to park a 1/2 mile away and walk.
The best part of the night was staying up late and making new friends while running around and playing in your pajamas. The fireworks seemed like almost an afterthought - we had snacks and a red woolen blanket that always itched in the heat of the summer evening.
If we behaved that evening we would be treated to a soft cone at the Dairy Queen on the way back to the car. As an adult I think my Dad should have parked on the other side of the street so we would not walk by the DQ and save them a wait as a hundred other parents and kids had the same idea. I know better than to take a tired kid to a lineup for ice cream at 10 at night, but my parents were younger so maybe there’s that.
As you read this now it’s my turn to take my over tired little one to see the local fireworks with her PJ’s on but the similarities end there. She will be driven in an electric car which still feels like living in the future. The snacks will be some store bought snack which she will not need, but YOLO. We draw the line at soda though so a water bottle will do for all of us.
Maybe she’ll see a friend there, or make new ones. There will be no Dairy Queen (we have ice cream at home) but there will be family and memories to be made and maybe one day decades from now she can regale her readers with the memories of back in the day at the fireworks display.
May your fireworks not get rained out and your blankets not be the itchy kind.
Until Next Time,
TH and Co.
I must have been paying attention because I am now the official popcorn maker in the house.