Fireworks Memories

[Lumpy 1]

My first memories of fireworks and bonfires was when we had moved to New Zealand. I was a kid around 8 years old.

The locals picked an empty lot and at night started a bonfire to celebrate "Guy Fox Day", as I recall and everyone in the neighborhood would bring whatever they could burn and throw it on the fire, while the kids ran around lighting firecrackers and other fireworks..

 

[editec]

First memory?

1956, Hacket's Park Hill

July 4th Fireworks over Easton, PA.

...And the yard went on forever

Jimmy Web​

 

[Lumpy 1]

I thought this post would turn out much better. Where's the romance, the unique ways to use firecrackers, the changes over the years..

 

[dilloduck]

The bottle rocket that went up my uncle's shirt sleeve from about 100 yards away was interesting.

 

[syrenn]

My first memory of fireworks was in kindergarten. The had a chinese new year dragon dance in the yard. Scared the shit out of me! They were throwing strings of firecrackers and one of the strings landed a few feet away from me. For real fireworks it was Disneyland.

We would have an "after christmas" bonfire. hehehehehe. We would gather up all the trees that people left on the curb, drag them to china beach, and torch them! What you say we were teenagers.

 

[Ringel05]

Taiwan. "A-bombs". 100NT (Chinese dollars) was close to a quarter stick of dynamite. You would half bury it, light it off, it would blaze like a giant roman candle for 30 seconds followed by an enormous explosion. The string firecrackers were not much smaller than M80s. When we first moved into our house the command gave us a surprise housewarming. They strung these thing up around the front door. I just happened to be sitting on the porcelain throne when they lit them off. Talk about rapid evacuation.

 

[uscitizen]

I remember when the paper sack of fireworks caught on fire underneath my Mamaw's lawn chair

 

[Barb]

The fist fireworks I remember were seen on my Uncle's boat over a lake.They were beautiful, but loud.

The most spectacular light show I've ever seen, and not loud at all, were the Northern Lights over (and into, and then back up into the sky) Lake Champlain. That is something I'd like to see again.

 

[Lumpy 1]

I recall taking my son, Sam to his first major fireworks display at Great America.. amusement park in the silicon valley. At that time you could be about 100 feet from where they were fired off.
Now my son was about 3 years old and wasn't real happy with loud noises at the time. When they started the fireworks my son bolted into the crowd in full terror mode. Thankfully someone stopped him before he got to far. His eyes were like saucers, my wife had to cover his ears for the rest of the show.

 

[Mr. H.]

We'd sometimes go to the lakefront park when I was a kid. It was so cool laying on the blanket with the fireworks overhead. Several years ago my sister brought her family from out east and we all met at that same park to relive those childhood memories.

Most fun was during the 1982 World's Fair. Every night without fail, they had the damndest displays.

 

[asaratis]

My earliest memory is of the fireworks display on the levee in my home town. There was a large, flat barge anchored on the opposite side of the lake with what looked to me to be a jillion fireworks mortars all over it. I could see people lighting the fuses and stepping back a few feet, watching them shoot up into the air and explode into different colored sparks. The reflections on the lake surface were awesome.

Several years later, before fireworks were outlawed locally, we kids got hold of a teepee looking thing that had a fuse at the base and a warning printed on the side. It said "Light and run!"

We lit it and stepped back a few yards. That wasn't far enough....loudest KABOOM I've ever stood too close to. I couldn't hear well for weeks after.

 

[Mr. H.]

Before the displays went to electrical ignition, I remember the local firemen lighting everything with flares.