The Rockets’ Red Glare!
July 4, 2009 by Dan
Filed under Young Voices
By Editor Suzanne Freeman
July 4, 2009
I may need a boat to see any fireworks this Fourth of July. I’m staying on a lake in Central Texas for the summer. Normally the small towns in the two counties here compete with each other for the best holiday fireworks displays. The bad economy has put a damper on the patriotic fervor in the Texas Hill Country, this year.
In the Highland Lakes, which is about 40 miles west of Austin (the state’s capital), the problem is not just the economy though. While the cost of a community fireworks display led the Marble Falls Chamber of Commerce to cancel its town’s pyrotechnics, the drought has also played a role.
Burn bans are in effect throughout Burnet and Llano counties, and yet fireworks stands are open to the public along almost every major roadway. Volunteer fire departments plan to be on alert all weekend long. (Kid Reporter Quinn Jacobson is here covering that story for The River Cities Daily Tribune, one of the local papers. More on his cool summer internship later!)
In this area of Texas, only Kingsland and Horseshoe Bay will feature community fireworks, and both of those are on the water. Kingsland, which is a small community about 50 miles west of Austin, is still holding its annual Aqua Boom fest. And just as the name suggests, it’s all about the water: boat parades and fireworks center lake.
Just try and rent a boat around here on the Fourth of July! Well, I have and it’s not happening, so me and mine will be straining our necks on very dry land for a glimpse of the rocket’s red glare!
What about you? What are you doing for the Fourth? What is your community planning (or not)? Click on the blue comment link below and tell us all about it!
Editor’s Note: PHOTO: Part of the Aqua Boom 4th of July Boat Parade in Kingsland, Texas, 2008. Photo courtesy The Picayune.
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Source: Scholastic News Online