Fourth of July Fireworks '06

[bwindi25]

GR Press this morning has an article about re-igniting the Fireworks for 4th of July by securing private funding, including an admission fee for downtown parks.

-GR PRESS-

"If he pulls it off, Kettle will preserve a 24-year tradition of Fourth of July fireworks over Ah-Nab-Awen Park.

"You can't not have fireworks," said Kettle, a former city school board member and mayoral candidate. "I'm not a flag-waver, but we've got kids getting shot up, and we'd better stand pretty firm on who we are."

[Trixie]

I won't pay admission to go see fireworks in GR - they've never had very good shows to begin with, certainly not worth paying for.

I don't get why not having fireworks is such a terrible thing?? Is it just tradition? Surely there are other ways to honor the holiday? And every other burg around town has them, so it's not like there will be none to see.

I know this sounds curmudgeonly, I truly don't mean it that way. I just don't get the hype.

[snoogit]

"You can't not have fireworks," said Kettle, a former city school board member and mayoral candidate. "I'm not a flag-waver, but we've got kids getting shot up, and we'd better stand pretty firm on who we are."

Remarks like that just turn me off even more. Sure I like a good fireworks display, but bringing up bad recent events to promote fireworks shows is despicable.

[Rizzo]

^Yah I thought that was a disturbing quote.

I think for me it's fireworks in my city. KFD puts on a good one at Patterson, its nice, but where's the backdrop? Same with everyone else's run of the mill shows. Where else around the metro can you get pictures of a skyline and hundreds of exploding thingamajigs reflected on The River? When I goto the park to see the fireworks, I don't go to see the "shows." I go to see fire and hear things explode, its purely American. Maybe if this thing pans out I'll grab some BK and watch the fireworks from their parking lot --share an evening with my girl.

[GRDadof3]

I thought July 4th was to celebrate the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Memorial Day is to honor our military and fallen soldiers. I think Kettle is confused.

Problems is is that people will watch the fireworks outside the "admission" area. That's what they did for the Air Show in Kalamazoo which eventually ran it out of money.

[6th Gen local]

I'd happily pay an admission or make a donation. Are they going to fence off downtown like they did for the road races to make this happen? How can they even get a show ordered at this late of a date?

Logistically it sounds nearly impossible. Who cares what Kettle says at least someone is trying to keep the fireworks going.

[Veloise]

^Yah I thought that was a disturbing quote.

Bet he said a bunch of other stuff but that one seemed most soundbite-worthy (so to speak).

I think for me it's fireworks in my city. KFD puts on a good one at Patterson, its nice, but where's the backdrop? Same with everyone else's run of the mill shows. Where else around the metro can you get pictures of a skyline and hundreds of exploding thingamajigs reflected on The River? When I goto the park to see the fireworks, I don't go to see the "shows." I go to see fire and hear things explode, its purely American. Maybe if this thing pans out I'll grab some BK and watch the fireworks from their parking lot --share an evening with my girl.

Reminds me of an ancient MAD magazine joke about having a bachelor party at McDonald's. GF: "you're taking me WHERE?!?"

[Occam]

I would be all for an admission charging plan, but ONLY if it were totally not for profit... and I really rather see us skip a year than set a precedent for someone being able to charge admission to what has always been a free city event.

If any extra cash went to pay for next years fireworks, then that would be great. It would be very democratic of us.

If someone is capitalizing on it and walking away with a big pile of money from the event, that would strike me as being pretty low.

The worst possible outcome is that it would be very profitable for someone, and then they would manage to make that the norm, and the 4th of July would require payment for access to anywhere good to see them from here on out (naturally with the price creeping up over the years, and plenty of advertising).... and we would all sit around as old folks remembering "Back in the good old days, ya didn't have to pay to see the fireworks... it was just a free civic event that brought the city together." And our grandkids would just think 'Jeeze grampa, how old fashion.'

But by then GR will only be a reference in the history books. In 2075 we will be renamed VanVosVille, and the robot valets will park your flying car ontop of the historic 'S-curve lot' for 3 credits.

[Rizzo]

Bet he said a bunch of other stuff but that one seemed most soundbite-worthy (so to speak).

Reminds me of an ancient MAD magazine joke about having a bachelor party at McDonald's. GF: "you're taking me WHERE?!?"

EDIT: I didn't know what was ment about kids being shot, so I made a connection with some young men being shot near where I live. I thought this is waht the quote was about. Kids being shot?

I'm not sophisticated enough. The GF is big city sophisticated, and thinks its adorable that I'm WYSIWYG and complicated.

[snoogit]

EDIT: I didn't know what was ment about kids being shot, so I made a connection with some young men being shot near where I live. I thought this is waht the quote was about. Kids being shot?

I'm not sophisticated enough. The GF is big city sophisticated, and thinks its adorable that I'm WYSIWYG and complicated.

If he said that quote after yesterday's three shootings that iirc involved kids, then its a little despicable.

[GRDadof3]

OMG, he was talking about kids being shot in Iraq, and that not having Fourth of July would be unpatriotic and unsupportive of the troops. Not kids being shot around Grand Rapids. But again, I think he's mixing up his holidays.

[snoogit]

OMG, he was talking about kids being shot in Iraq, and that not having Fourth of July would be unpatriotic and unsupportive of the troops. Not kids being shot around Grand Rapids. But again, I think he's mixing up his holidays.

I'm mixing up my shootings I suppose. I really don't see the US soldiers in Iraq as kids (mostly because I'm in the same age group as soldiers in Iraq)

[zenstyle]

"You can't not have fireworks," said Kettle, a former city school board member and mayoral candidate. "I'm not a flag-waver, but we've got kids getting shot up, and we'd better stand pretty firm on who we are."

This is a ridiculous quote. It represents the worst sort of jingoism and "USA-Yay!" posturing.

"We better have fireworks, you, betcha, cuz it means we Support the Troops

[civitas]

"You can't not have fireworks," said Kettle, a former city school board member and mayoral candidate. "I'm not a flag-waver, but we've got kids getting shot up, and we'd better stand pretty firm on who we are."

This is a ridiculous quote. It represents the worst sort of jingoism and "USA-Yay!" posturing.

"We better have fireworks, you, betcha, cuz it means we Support the Troops

[PR-15]

If you want to see a great neighborhood celebration, check out the Hollyhock Lane parade. This neighborhood knows how to party.

I have to totally agree with Civitas about the Hollyhock Lane Parade. It's by far the most grass roots and partriotic parade you'll ever see...and the best one for kids of all ages to participate in.

[Veloise]

...

If you want to see a great neighborhood celebration, check out the Hollyhock Lane parade. This neighborhood knows how to party.

...

Any parade with a kid dressed up like my favorite monument is OK by me.

Got schedule details for this year, or it this a keep it a secret type of deal?

[civitas]

Any parade with a kid dressed up like my favorite monument is OK by me.

Got schedule details for this year, or it this a keep it a secret type of deal?

July 4th (of course). Near the corner of Franklin and Giddings (you'll see the crowd). I think the parade is at about 9:00 AM. [Correction, from the article I posted later it looks like the parade starts at 8:30 am.]

After the parade the crowd gathers in the alley for presentations and speeches.

Decorate your bike if you come.

[GRDadof3]

Where is Hollyhock Lane? We always dress up our bikes and participate in Ada's 4th of July parade, which is probably 90% kids, 10% firetrucks. And it always seems like there are more people IN the parade then watching the parade.

[Sunlover38]

.

"You can't not have fireworks," said Kettle, a former city school board member and mayoral candidate.

Nice double negative from the former school board member . . . ..

[civitas]

Where is Hollyhock Lane? We always dress up our bikes and participate in Ada's 4th of July parade, which is probably 90% kids, 10% firetrucks. And it always seems like there are more people IN the parade then watching the parade.

I think "Hollyhock Lane" is the N/S alley between Calvin and Giddings south of Franklin. I'm not sure where the name came from.

There's even a Hollyhock Lane band that marches with the floats, firetrucks, decorated bikes, politicians, etc. (John Logie and Vern Ehlers marched the year I took the photos - 2001?)

[civitas]

http://usinfo.state.gov/scv/Archive/2005/Jun/07-926209.html

"Every Fourth of July, we neighbors gather early in an alley. It's an alley with pretensions; it's called Hollyhock Lane. The hollyhocks are gone now, and the concrete is purpled by mulberries instead. We rise to see the Hollyhock Lane Parade; then half of us repair to the alley for a patriotic service. This has happened 63 times before. Attendance has been rising in recent years, and in 1998 there will be more than a thousand people on hand, approaching some of the big turnouts of yesteryear.

The Calvin-Giddings Patriotic Association runs this show. Always multi-ethnic, the area is now also multi-racial. If you move onto the 800-900 blocks of Calvin or Giddings, the streets between which the alley runs, you had better clean up and paint up and help with the planning, or the neighbors will talk about you. Imagine the shock of the family that was closing on a house purchase, only to learn that their unfenced, terraced back yard provides the annual program stage.

Even those of us who go year after year are a little surprised that a traditional celebration of this sort continues to attract strong interest in the 1990s. After all, it's a throwback. It's often hokey. But in this alley we do pretty much the same thing our immigrant forebears did. They probably did it better, but a least we still do it. As the smiles all around say, we love it for the sheer happening of it. This is how to make time stand still...."

[mpchicago]

We won "best entry" in the 1976 Sparta Forth of July Parade.

I don't like the idea of charging people to pay for downtown fireworks, however I'm willing to donate to a fund.

While I haven't been to the Fourth of July display in GR for about four or five years, I thought the last one I went to was great!

[DSchoon]

"You can't not have fireworks," said Kettle, a former city school board member and mayoral candidate. "I'm not a flag-waver, but we've got kids getting shot up, and we'd better stand pretty firm on who we are."

One thing I always wonder when I see a quote like this in the Press...is did the guy actually say it?

Has anyone seen it on the TV news? The Press is renowned for "airbrushing" quotes.

The admissions fee will be for Anabawen Park, which I believe will also have some other entertainment component.

[6th Gen local]

Hollyhock Lane sounds like a street in Jenison.

[michaelskis]

Well, if it was just fire works, we might just hang out on the roof of the condo. But if there are other activities going on downtown including food, music, and fun, we will be there.