A promise to help a friend who was out-of-town for the weekend with an early morning task got me out and about in Superior earlier than normal on both Saturday and Sunday mornings.
My morning jaunts were so interesting I stretched them out a bit longer than was absolutely necessary.
Superior was abnormally quiet on both mornings but even more so on Sunday.
Were it not for the COVID-19 pandemic, Superior would have been hopping Saturday morning with the 38th running of the Firekracker 10K (sic) and related events. Because of the pandemic, the event was not held but I saw people out enjoying the day. Whether running, jogging or walking, they were out filling their lungs with fresh air on a pleasant morning while seeing the town and getting exercise. There are lots of theories about what one should do to lessen the COVID-19 impact. One that appeals to me encourages additional time outside.
I didn’t see any joggers wearing masks, doubt that they could do so and run. At least I can’t wear a mask and do much more than run my computer or read. The people I saw jogging were either going alone or practicing social distancing.
A news story distributed Sunday discounted the value of social distancing. According to that article, there is developing evidence which indicates the virus may linger in the air long after the spreader has moved on thus negating some of the six-foot social distance benefit.
Sunday morning, I only saw one jogger but there was lots of left over evidence which pointed to something having gone on the day before.
There were piles of spent fireworks waiting to be hauled away and lawn furniture in unusual places. I suspect the furniture had been used the night before while viewing a spectacular fireworks show. After the show, the occupants retreated to bug-free air conditioning and decided to leave the furniture and picnic gear in place until the next day.
And what a fireworks show we did have.
As always, the Superior Volunteer Fire Department was responsible for a spectacular show. But the show at Brodstone Memorial Field wasn’t the only spectacular show.
From my house, there were spectacular shows in all directions. The full moon only added to the outdoors beauty of the night.
Fireworks sold for personal consumption appear to have made dramatic improvements since I last sold fireworks in 1971.
When I was in the business, there were limitations on how much powder could be included in an item and how many shots an item could have. Though few were sold, the maximum sparkler length was 36 inches. The 12-inch size was the most popular.
I suspect the limitations today are similar but manufacturing methods and the quality of the finished product has improved. The result is consumer-grade products that rival what was once only available only in the commercial show products.
By the time I quit selling fireworks, most of my favorite display items had been placed in the illegal category.
When available, bottle rockets gave the most bang for the buck. Often a customer bought them in packages of 144 (a gross), But after being blamed for many fires and injuries, the bottle rockets were put on the forbidden list.
The same with buzz bombs, helicopters and flying satellites. The satellites were made with flimsy metal discs. I suspect the discs were easily distorted and with the result the product was prone to fly in an unpredictable direction.
Buzz bombs and helicopters had plastic propellers mounted on a cardboard tube. Damage a propeller and the flight was erratic.
My all time favorite was the big skyrockets. Dad had adapted a piece of well casing to use as a launcher tube and it worked well. He could arch the rockets over the Republican River Valley but not everybody had a good launching tube. Consequently, the rockets were blamed for fires and injuries and placed on the taboo list.
Daytime parachutes were permitted and the little youngsters enjoyed seeing the parachute open and drift to the ground. They liked to run after and find the parachutes which sometimes had a little plastic man for weight. But I thought the daytime version was ho-hum. I was curious to see a nighttime parachute but they were on the banned list and not easy to obtain. Eventually, I was able to obtain samples of the forbidden parachutes and went to the edge of the highway to try my first one. It turned out to be defective and did not leave the ground. But it burned with such intensity that it melted the highway’s asphalt. That first try was so scary I didn’t try a second one.
I’ve shot few fireworks on the Fourth of July. Most of my shooting came a week earlier. My customers counted on my advice to help make their selections and I couldn’t describe what I hadn’t tested.
My fireworks stand merchandise selection included at least two models of cap guns and a large inventory of caps. The guns were not required but made the shooting of caps more convenient. Caps came in either rolls or discs. Rolls were the most popular though as a little guy I was intrigued by a revolver mechanism that required the disc caps.
If one didn’t have a cap gun, a hammer and hard surface would sufice for a sharp blow would cause the caps to explode.
Black snakes were popular on a calm day. Light the little pill and several inches of ash would rise out of the pill. But the day had to be calm. If the wind was blowing, it was nearly impossible to light the pill and the black ash would break apart and blow away as it climbed out of the pill.
While scavenging through my uncle’s toys stored since his childhood in one of grandmother’s upstairs closets, I found a gun that used adding machine paper and compressed air to make a loud exploding sound.
The gun was much like a bicycle tire pump with a mechanism for holding the paper tightly over the discharge port. Pull the handle back to charge the gun, release and a blast of air would blow a hole through the paper creating a loud pop. As a noise maker it was better than a cap gun because I could always obtain a roll of adding machine paper in the gasoline station office. Caps I could only get during fireworks season from June 27 through July 5.
The only disadvantage was it didn’t look much like a real gun. In my imagination, ball bats substituted for rifles but my imagination had to work double-time before the air gun would substitute for a Colt 45 revolver.
Today’s boys may dream about growing up to be an NFL football star but I wanted to be an Indian fighting cowboy and I needed a gun.
Before I close the notebook for this week, I want to acknowledge the patriotic concert held at City Park. It was a fine show. As I stood near the Civil War monument, I thought of my ancestors who were members of the Grand Army of the Republic and probably living in this area when the monument was placed in the park. Had they been present Saturday morning, they would have approved.
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