The Fourth of July fireworks I attended tonight where quite satisfying. Rhythm and Booms may hype itself as the biggest, but I found the little old Maple Bluff Beach fireworks to be better. For one thing, the crowd was well ordered and fairly polite. It was a mass, but not really a mob. It was a festive conglomeration of citizens.

The fireworks, being lit be hind rather than computer, showed themselves off as individual jewels. For every burst of light, color, and sound there was a chance to really see it. Sometimes several would be shot off together, or in rapid succession, but they gave the impression of being small collections, rather than an endless stream of glitter. Instead of cheesy smiley faces, we were given randomly placed thunderboomers, which never failed to make the crowd jump. We also regularly applauded over the whizzers and the whistlers and the screamers and the showers.

Being a smallish area, most of the fireworks seemed huger than huge. (At Rhythm and Booms, most people found themselves watching it a bit of a distance.) The sky would literally be filled with a single burst. In addition to the glory of the show, the crowd was treated to a silver crescent moon hovering over the water, and three other fireworks displays at variou parks across the lake, to delight us during the pauses.

The grand finale, when it cam, was on of the grandest I have witnessed. The bulk of the show was lit from the end of a pier on the lake. (Some of the bursts flamed all the way back down to the water.) When the finale came, the fireworks were lit from the land end of the pier. A seemingly endless succession of crackle bam bangs became our canopy. It was so bright that I had to shadow my eyes at times. Of course, being that close meant that we became covered with a light rain of ashy debris. Dirty, yes, but very worth it.

I am glad that I decided not to drive all the way across town to go to Elver Park. Tis was a quality show. Definitely going to have to catch it again next year.