20 Years Ago on FITK

The Best Fireworks Ever

If you think about it, a modern fireworks display is usually a very controlled experience. Due to the dangerous nature of the fireworks themselves, extreme care is used in their manufacture, transportation and exhibition.

Usually.

When I was a teenager (many years ago), our neighborhood park in North Minneapolis would always celebrate the fourth with a pyrotechnic extravaganza, launched from the sledding hill. With fiery comets arcing over the mighty and majestic Shingle Creek, it was the same every year until that final performance. One errant missile, only the second or third launched, fell back, sputtering unto the stacks of unlit rockets.

An immediate chaotic eruption ensued. Instead of thud-whoosh-boom, with colorful sparks making orderly flowers of fire in the sky above, we had a 3-D nightmare scene of people running, sideways explosions, and the sense of “this can’t be happening!” Luckily, no one was seriously hurt. As spectacle, however, it was hard to top. Instead of looking at the fireworks, you were in the fireworks!