Oh July, you cruel mistress. Equal parts: schools out freedom, poolside cocktails, fireworks, and patriotism. Part: heat stroke inducing, singe your hands touching the steering wheel after a long day of work, sweaty marathon of misery. I find it such a shame that our Independence Day has to be celebrated during the hottest month of the year! I guess in Minnesota or Montana this month is probably perfect, but here in the South I feel like I’m celebrate our founding fathers with Satan himself in the fiery pits of Hades.
For the past 6 or so years, a select few of us head over to Fort Bragg for a day and night of red, white, and blue American revelry at its finest. It is an entire day of entertainment. There is a free concert in the parade field with fair food and corn dogs as far as the blood shot eye can see. Did I mention the beer? Yeah, they’ve got that covered; thanks to Budweiser, “The King of Beer”… America. Past performers include Chris Stapleton, Natalie Stovall and hand to my heart… Cheap Trick. Listen, if you don’t want to celebrate the birth of our nation with a 1980’s metal/hair band, please kindly take yourself to Russia where you and your comrades can read Lenin pamphlets all day and drink the worlds finest vodka by night… ok well that last part sounds nice, but you get my drift. I digress…
This July 4th event takes place on a vast parade field which reminds me of those dessert plains in an old western where the heat rises off the ground in waves. Umbrellas and the like are strictly prohibited so as not to obscure the view. This makes total sense as the last thing a weary spectator needs is to park, walk a country mile, find the perfect spot, haul your chair and enough water to fill a large pool, and have some jerk erect a tent or umbrella obliterating your view of Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen spin his custom guitar whilst rocking out to, “I Want You to Want Me” or Stapleton croon “Tennessee Whiskey”.
One activity which motivates me to return to this scorcher of a day year after year is the people watching. An estimated 10,000 people show up to this fun-filled marathon and it honestly is one of my favorite aspects of the day. There are the young buffed out soldiers who look like they are walking with watermelons under their arms as they proudly display their physique in tiny tank tops and oddly enough; cut off jean shorts and cowboy boots. There are the exhausted parents, who clearly didn’t realize what they have signed up for as the kids cry with fatigue and boredom (there is a “Kiddie Zone”, but I’ve never been). There are folks dragging oxygen tanks while simultaneously smoking their cigs and eating funnel cake ( I am convinced I could win a funnel cake eating competition…) and of course my favorite people; are my people. Lindsay, Jose, my man and I have it down to a science…sort of… Every year a few extra people join us but none have the commitment and intestinal fortitude to show up year after year.
Sunscreen check
Water Check
Assortment of fine cheeses and Chorizo Check
Hand Sanitizer and Tissues Check
Chairs and a blanket Double Check
Patriotic Spirit coursing through our red-blooded veins while celebrating our love for country and fellow man… You bet your ass.
Jokes aside, here is why I can’t imagine spending Independence Day anywhere else. Yes, the crowds are crazy, yes it is so hot that 2 years ago I dropped with a heat stroke the following day and was rushed by ambulance to the hospital, and yes parking is off putting to say the least, but none of that matters once the show begins. As dusk falls the Golden Knights Parachute Team descend from the sky; popping smoke in red, white, and blue with the last jumper flying in with the American Flag. Next, over a loud speaker a strong voice proclaims every State in ascending order of when they joined the Union followed by there individual cannon salute. The 82nd brass band plays some classic Sousa, state flags are presented, live music continues and then the fireworks. I can not adequately explain to you how absolutely extraordinary the Ft Bragg fireworks are… the entire sky vibrates with color. If this 18 minutes-long fireworks show, choreographed to music doesn’t bring a slow tear to roll down your God-fearing cheek and swell your heart with pride..well then I don’t know what will.
After the fireworks of course it’s a mass exodus which we navigate with ease (and by ease I mean a general sense of impotent rage and exhausted judgement). A few of our compatriots nod off on the car ride home while others review the photos and videos of the days events and share in a quiet laugh or two. At the end of the day as we lay our free heads on our pillow, one can’t help but marvel at all of the sacrifices our military men and women have made to keep us safe by honoring the original and historic document Thomas Jefferson wrote and which our Continental Congress voted in on July 2nd, 1776. The day long celebration drives home the point of how very lucky we are to live in this country where those before us dared for a different way of life and had held the resolve to pursue it no matter the odds. Regardless of the heat and crowds; this day is set aside for us all to remember where we came from and allow us to celebrate the land of the free and the home of the brave…right here under the Pines.
mockingbirdonbroad 