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Linda Weide's avatar

John, I love the nostalgia and the sense of place you evoke with this piece. It made me reflect on my own Fourth of July childhood memories. I do not have anything so vivid for when I was young, although I know we spent them outside at the beach with family barbequing, and then went downtown in the evening to hear the concert in Chicago's Grant Park and watch the fireworks.

When I was older there were many years of the Taste of Chicago, a festival where restaurants from all over the city offering tastes for a few tickets that we bought at booths in the beginning. It would be hot, sometimes 100 degree, and the police would go through on horses that left big droppings on the sidewalks which one had to watch out for along with being shoved along in huge crowds. People would come from other states to attend. Still, it had a very local feel to it.

In some years there were over 1 million people there and it would take hours to be able to leave after the fireworks at the lake front. I recall one year needing 3 hours to leave and the subways being packed wall to wall, up the stairs and out on the streets. It was craziness. After a man with a knife shoved me and my friends trying to get through, I stopped going.

As a parent we enjoyed participating in our own neighborhood festival with parade in which the children would decorate their bikes, scooters, and parents would decorate their strollers and buggies. It sounds like yours in that is was smaller and local. No carnival but we would march through the neighborhood, where many local politicians came out and joined us. It end at a nearby park where there was a petting zoo, Black cowboys would come and ride children on their horses, and there were many games, and local high school bands would play while their cheerleaders did dances. My favorite was the water melon seed spitting contest for the obvious reason that we got to eat copious amounts of watermelon and spit the seeds. We would bring a blanket and picnic and together with friends and family hang out most of the day. Again we would go to the lakefront in the evening but in our neighborhood where we could see the far off fireworks in the city center light the night sky and then walk home in the dark.

This Fourth of July I am in Germany and will be celebrating together with American friends, sans fireworks. My daughter is going to an American diner in her city with friends that are also part American and eating typically American foods, like bbq ribs. She and I were reflecting on whether we were still able to celebrate American independence. I will be celebrating the independence we have had and hopefully will have again. I wish you a Happy Fourth in France John.

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John Howard's avatar

Thanks for your comments, Linda, and for sharing your memories! Food’s also a big part of the holiday, too, and I’m glad you wrote about that. On some July 4th holidays my parents hosted a neighbourhood barbecue. My father had created a grille from the body of an old washing machine, upon which he placed the iron grate that had once covered the sole source of heat in the house we lived in. Tables and chairs would be carried down from the Grange Hall and arranged in our yard, and everybody brought some side dish to enjoy. Happy days they were!

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Linda Weide's avatar

John, it sounds wonderful. We are trying to build these sorts of memories living abroad too.

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Caroline Smrstik's avatar

Linda, thank you for reminding me of the Grant Park concert and fireworks on the lake! Those were my childhood holidays, too. I remember the first years of Taste of Chicago, which really were very local. My hip young aunts and uncles used to take us there before it got too big… by then we had moved away from Chicago, but a piece of my heart is always there.

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Betty Carlson's avatar

I also loved this post. Our town carnival and parade circa mid 60s had some of the same feel, but I don't think there were any side shows, although I was aware they existed here and there, perhaps more out in the country. I'm guessing your memories are a bit earlier. I'm wondering when and how they went out of style and then totally disappeared.

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John Howard's avatar

Thanks Betty. I had been wondering the same thing. What I described was probably from 1962-1963. When I last visited the Marshfield Fair in the next town, around 1982, the sideshow attractions were similar to what I described. I’m sure there’s an interesting history about this either somewhere or waiting to be written.

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Caroline Smrstik's avatar

What a wonderful nostalgic piece, John! I burst out laughing when you mentioned the Shriners in their tiny cars!! I remember the red fezes, but had forgotten the cars… how delightfully absurd.

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Clarice Dankers's avatar

What an evocative description of a world that no longer exists, John! I kept flashing on scenes from "The Music Man" while I was reading it.

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Linda Weide's avatar

I agree. I love the way John is not drawn in by all that was there to deceive him, and that his family had empathy for the poor little monkey.

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