Three different counties, Two different fireworks companies, One Parade = a Great Holiday Weekend!

I hope everyone enjoyed their 4^th of July! We ended up doing a tri county tour of fireworks shows. Wasn’t planned at all but sometimes flying by the seat of your pants is the best option!

We started our tri-county tour on Saturday night with a trek into Beaver County. We were headed down for the fireworks in Monaca/Rochester. Armed with the trusty GPS unit and my Dad’s memories of the area, we spent about a half hour driving around, searching for a good spot.  We found a park in Bridgewater, PA that was right at the junction of the Ohio and Beaver rivers. We figured it was a good spot since people were already camped out and the police were already in place to direct traffic. So we set up our camp in a field that looked out over the river and was surrounded by train tracks. My son was absolutely thrilled with the trains tracks and train bridges, which was an added bonus for us as it kept him from being bored. The field was nice and flat, not too buggy, and there was a nice breeze wafting up from the rivers. The fireworks were great, as a Zambelli display usually is. The crowd was polite and courteous. The Bridgewater police did a fantastic job with traffic control and we were home by 11 p.m.

Sunday was the day of the Ross Township festivities. We had hoped to go to the car show, but a meltdown by an exhausted toddler quickly pushed that from my mind. So I just set my sights on the Parade. We left the house at about 3:15 p.m. and I was surprised when we got to the intersection of Perry Highway and Harden Drive. Usually at that time, there are trucks and stuff lined all the way back to that intersection. But the intersection was empty and clear. We were able to make a right turn and scoot into Highland Church’s parking lot. From there it was a quick walk to our usual spot.  The parade started on time…..well, at least I think it did because the start seemed a bit confusing. The Ross Township Police Color Guard started things off, but there seemed to be a bit of chaos at the beginning. I can’t put my finger on it…maybe it was the shouting or the frazzled looks on some of the participants faces. I guess you may only have noticed it if you were sitting right at the beginning of the route. The Parade was nice, although it didn’t seem as if there were as many people there as usual. I also noticed that the unit of rescue/service dogs was missing this year and the truck that looks like a train and sets off those loud cannon blasts was not in the parade.  It was there in the beginning, but it drove off before the parade started. We definitely missed that. Jason Altmire made his presence known (the balloons were a nice touch) as did several other politicians (Ann Harold, who is running for a Commissioner’s seat, gave out some wonderful and much appreciated hand held fans!). The parade seemed to end with the same bit of confusion that it started with. In fact, several of us looked around at each other to ask “Is that it?” since there wasn’t a police car or anything marking the end of the procession. It seems that Commissioner O’Brien’s car was the last thing in the line.

Sunday evening, we set off for the Ross Community Park in anticipation of a fireworks show by Pyrotechnico. The atmosphere there was a lot wilder than the previous night in Beaver. There were long lines for the concession stand and a LONG line for the bounce house (I think they could have used more than one). There seemed to be kids running everywhere and I saw more than one shoving match on the playground between kids. We never made it inside to check out the activities in the building because I wasn’t aware that there were any inside until it was too late. We all seemed to be packed into the space and sitting on top of each other for some reason? I don’t know why people didn’t spread out in John Herb Field? The fireworks were OK.  Several people have commented that the show was short and that there seemed to be a long time between each one. I thought that was just my interpretation because I was comparing it to the Zambelli display from the night before, but I guess others weren’t too excited by it. Traffic leaving the Community Center was a bit of a nightmare…not because of the effort from the fire police that were directing but more because of drivers not paying attention/too busy talking on their cell phones and almost hitting people or cars. Once past the distracted drivers that were trying to back their cars out into a line of traffic while holding their cell phone to their ear with their shoulder, it flowed smoothly.

We completed our tri-county tour Monday night with a trip to Zelienople in Butler. I was looking forward to a performance by the Pittsburgh Philharmonic (sponsored by the Strand Theatre) and some more Zambelli fireworks! The Zelienople Community Park is a nice facility, and really highlights items that the Ross Community Park is lacking. It was spread out with nice ball fields, a pool, a huge shaded playground, and more that I missed due to the crowds. The Philharmonic presented a nice performance, there was a little concession stand set up that included homemade baked goods (to die for chocolate chip cookies!!!), and there was an overall courteous attitude from the crowd. While the crowd was festive, it was not crazy. Kids were playing, but not running around wild. We were also entertained by the neighbor’s backyard fireworks. In fact, there were a few times that my mother in law was convinced they were the real thing. I had a good chuckle at the number of times we saw a police car driving down the street with the “illegal” fireworks exploding right above them. The Zambelli display was nice at Zelienople, but not as good as the one in Beaver. Although perhaps my judgment is skewed after we sat in traffic for 45 minutes trying to get out of there. Apparently, we chose the one intersection that was not covered by an individual directing traffic, and it showed. The four-way stop sign turned into a free-for-all as I guess stop signs become optional on the actual 4th of July Holiday.  It took quite a while to untangle that mess, but once we were through that and to an actual area where a person was directing traffic, we got out of there smoothly.

I would have to say that the trek to Beaver County was well worth it as that was my favorite evening. The fireworks were great and everything there seemed nice and relaxed. Ross’ activities were good but they seemed a bit chaotic (don’t forget to fill out the survey that they passed out on the pamphlets!) and Zelienople tanked in my book due to the traffic situation (and quite possibly due to the fact that we were all exhausted by that point). 

Wherever and however you spent your 4^th of July, I hope you enjoyed it. I also hope that you took a moment to reflect upon the fact that the 4^th of July stands for more than fireworks and picnics. I hope you celebrated the adoption of the Declaration of Independence that occurred on July 4^th 1776!