Favorite 4th? Come & Share!
This is the question of the day (QOTD) on the California board. I just wanted to share this with everyone. I also want to know your favorite 4th of July.
Come on and share!!!
I grew up in Boston. The 4th of July is a major big deal there!
My favorite 4th was in 1976, the 200th Anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Some friends and I camped out overnight at the Hatch Memorial Shell in downtown Boston so that we would have great seats (on a blanket on the grass) to the Boston Pops concert and the fireworks afterwards.
My friends and I were attending Northeastern University at the time. I was in their choral society as were the majority of the 50 or so people with whom I had gone to the concert. The choral society from Boston University (arch enemies) was also there. We entertained the folks waiting for the concert to begin by having a singing competition between the two colleges. There were tourists from all over the world at this particular concert who thought that this choral competition was part of the show. Unfortunately, I think BU won. boo hiss
The Pops were fantastic. Arthur Fiedler was the conductor back then. They did their signature piece at the end... Tchaichovsky's Overture to the War of 1812. The end of the piece is the victory. Church bells from all over the downtown area of the city were ringing like crazy. The army set of Howitzers. All of this was followed by 70 minutes of the best fireworks display I have ever seen.
They estimated that there were one and one half million people in the park area, on the overpasses, over walkways, and on Storrow Drive to see all of this. The area of the Hatch shell can accommodate about 500,000 people uncomfortably. It is a concert and fireworks display that I will never forget.
I went to this concert and fireworks display from 1972 until 1980 when I moved from Boston. I so wish that I could take my husband and children to see this.
To quote someone ever so famous... Thanks for the memory!
Dianne