The fourth of July is about noise. In St. Paul, it starts a day or two before the fourth. The first sign that the holiday is approaching is the barricade placed on our front lawn. The street I live on, and the alley has to be blocked off on the 4th or people park on both sides and down the middle in the evening to get a view of the fireworks from the Taste of Minnesota.
The problem with parking in the middle of the street is that emergency vehicles can’t get through if there is a problem. The city decided a few years ago that we should be able to get emergency services even on the 4th so they bring out the barricades. I think we all complained about it too.
The taste starts on the 3rd of July and lasts through the 6th. It is a free festival. I usually don’t go because I can hear the music just fine from my home.
We don’t have enough police officers on duty on the 4th. That creates some interesting problems and is why the people in my neighborhood if they have any sense leave town for the 4th. I have always enjoyed spending the 4th of July in the city.
Most types of fireworks are illegal in Minnesota. Public displays like the one at the taste of Minnesota are legal. The law is not enforced, it can not be because there isn’t anyone to enforce it. In general, fireworks can be thrown directly at a police car and they will just keep driving. If a resident calls 911 about the fireworks being thrown at the police car they may stop and deal with it but chances are they don’t have time.
The picture is of the park they just completed along the river, called River Park. The man in the red shirt is one of the many guards who will guard the park for the next few days. The park is lovely but it is closed over the weekend and barricaded so no one can go in it. The reason is because that is where the four-day supply of fireworks for the Taste of Minnesota are stored so that they can be deployed each night at about 10:15. I guess they don’t want someone to get in there with a match and blow up downtown so they keep an eye on the stuff.
The best fireworks display in the taste of Minnesota, one of the best places to view then are from the roof above my front porch. I would invite everyone over but I am not sure how many people can sit there without the thing caving in. Old house.
Have a safe and happy fourth of July. Try not to blow anything up.
I guess they enforce them in some places:
http://patentsgirl.blogspot.com/2008/07/exchange.html
🙂
Boy, do you have it right about the Fourth in St. Paul. I live above Harriet Island and try to get out of town, but unfortunately didn’t make it this year. I almost really “didn’t make it” when, while driving back from watching fireworks in Stillwater(can’t stand anymore to kick people out of my front yard and prevent them from trampling flowers in person-so I put up a fence this year and took off for the day), some huge SUV almost killed myself and my sister’s family while trying to run through a yellow light. No cops anywhere near the traffic, directing it, and I was amazed to see how much further out the traffic was this year after the fourth fireworks. Enough’s enough. I hope to find time to organize a petition to have the Taste of MN MOVED somewhere that can accomodate the traffic, so we can enjoy our neighborhoods again!