If you can’t find a great fireworks show for the Fourth of July holiday weekend — or for Canada Day, for that matter — then you must not be looking. Here is a random sampler.

For fireworks and fun, why wait for the Fourth of July? Canada has been a true friend for all of these years, and Canada Day is the First of July. Vancouver, British Columbia, would be a great place to be, with the heat coming from the pyrotechnics rather than from the muggy air in other locales. It is called the “Burrard Inlet Fireworks Show” and the inlet is far prettier than the name may imply. The fireworks are shot from a barge.

Or you could opt for Buffalo. Buffalo? Look, even in Buffalo it doesn’t snow in July. Plus, Canada again joins the picture through a connect with Fort Erie, Ontario. This is the 22nd annual U.S.-Canada International Friendship Festival, and there are shows in Fort Erie on July 1 and in Buffalo on July 4 and 5. Three for the price of one, even though the Canadian currency exchange rate is not as generous as in the past.

Maybe your family and/or friends are embarked on a long summer of boating. OK, heading up the Eastern Seaboard is cool, and you can catch a good fireworks show along the way, but the sunrise is the same each day. Make your way down the St. Lawrence Seaway and bop along the coastlines of Michigan’s mitten, and within a few days span you can see that fiery ball rise in the east over Lake Huron and set in the west over Lake Michigan. Plus, rustic but hip Bay City - between the state’s thumb and forefinger - offers one of the nation’s best three-day fests, July 3 through 5. Oops, boaters, is it too late for this year? Plan for next.

America’s City of Broad Shoulders on July 3 offers the “Taste of Chicago Fireworks” in Grant Park during the heart of a 10-day festival. The rockets’ red glare simply adds more color to a shindig that features more than 60 restaurants that set up outdoor kitchens. Ribs and brats, for sure, but there also is a Gourmet Pavilion. With all of the aromas in the air, this is one time that you’ll be glad this is the Windy City.

Some may wish to honor President Bush for his eighth and final Independence Day in office, and others may celebrate his impending departure. Either way, Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C., is alive for the entire Fourth of July with a noon parade that features more than 100 marching units. Next come popular music groups and then the National Symphony Orchestra. Even the most patriotic among us may feel a little pooped when the pyrotechnics finally begin.

In closing, we take note of Philadelphia’s Sunoco Welcome America Festival and Houston’s “Chevy’s Freedom Over Texas with Fireworks Presented by Shell,” both on July 4. With the price of gas, car pooling is recommended.

SOURCES

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/fireworks

www.fireworksguide.com

www.fireworkslistings.ca/BC.html

www.upcoming.yahoo.com

www.baycityfireworksfest.com/index.html

www.tasteofchicago.com

www.americasbirthday.com

www.houstontx.gov/specialevents/cfot/index.html

www1.macys.com/campaign/fireworks

Submitted by: Michael Thompson