Fireworks and Cruise Night

July 4 Fireworks

Again this year the Brookside Church provided a fireworks show on the Fourth of July. Before the show they had the band "Warranted" play for several hours. I did not see a lot of publicity for the fireworks, but the crowd at Brookside Park was huge. The picture below was taken from near the playground equipment and the church building can be seen illuminated by the fireworks.

There were kids having so much fun on the playground equipment that I do not think they watched much or any of the fireworks.

This picture was taken from south of the LaRue Pool and the white lines are the fence post for the fence around the pool. The fireworks on the left were from a private citizen living north of the highway. (Three other private fireworks were visible to the east of the church fireworks.)

Most of my attempts to photograph fireworks do not turn out well. Here are a couple of exceptions.

Here is a video of 32 seconds of the display.

Someone had fun on the Fourth.

Car show and Cruise Night

The 2024 JC Cruiser Car Show was the biggest ever. There were cars from the highway to the pool and from the Creek to the parking lot for Blacker Fields.

A lot of cars meant a lot of trophies to give out.

I wandered around and took some pictures. I have to admit, I am not a car person and have little talent in auto or engine mechanics. I suspect my maternal grandfather and my two maternal uncles pitied me for that shortcoming. My grandfather owned a car dealership in Minnesota in the 1930s and 1940s and in the 1950s and 1960s owned a John Deere dealership with one of his sons. Both of those uncles made a living fixing farm equipment. One of them rebuilt old farm steam engines (used for power before tractors.) I suspect my lack of mechanical ability came from my father's side of the family.

A lot of hoods were up so people could admire the motors.

There were a number of vendors at the event, including one selling hub caps.

The oldest car at the show was a 1908 Buick. It did not join Cruise Night, That was probably a good thing because it left the smell of gasoline behind it.

There was a large crowd for Cruise night. Most were on the west side of the highway so they did not have to look at the setting sun. However, that meant it was very difficult to get a good picture of the crowds. 

Trinity United Methodist Church was handing out free hot dogs and chips in front of Fase's. They did not have as many takers as I expected.

The little pink ice cream truck had a line of customers at Milroy Park.

As I continued toward the downtown I heard more ice-cream-truck music and was wondering where it was coming from. There was a second truck working the route. I suspect there was plenty of business for both.

I was getting ready to leave when the cars from the car show arrived and I took the video below of most of them.