I hope you all had a great 4th of July weekend! I had a pretty good one, at least on the 4th itself. And I didn’t even go into the office on the 4th, either! Of course, that might’ve had something to do with having a good day.
At church I played keyboard, while Mike led. Three of the high schoolers also joined us on the worship team, on electric guitar, bass and drums, and Mike chose several high-energy songs and strung them all together (“Salvation Is Here,” “Sing, Sing, Sing,” “I Am Free,” and “Fields of Grace” in the main set, with a slower song after the sermon, “A New Hallelujah”). I think he’s been itching to do a set like that for a long time. Rehearsal on Saturday night was a bit chaotic, but it all came together just fine on Sunday morning. I’m not sure if the keyboard was audible on the high-energy songs, but it was still nice to play.
Mid-afternoon I went over to Hollemans for a PSCG cookout. I brought some Louie’s Wisconsin brats (with cheddar cheese and cranberries in them, mmmmm!), and some lemon pudding with blueberries. That’s really perfect on a hot summer day like the 4th was.
It was also the farewell event for two families from our group, Chad & Rachel Schrock (and Toby), and Byran & Amy Smucker (and Xavier). Chad has a faculty position (English/literature) lined up at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee, and Bryan has a faculty position (statistics) lined up at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and they’re both moving in the next couple weeks. They’ll definitely be missed, they’ve been a big part of our group for years now. We’ve also had some others move on this summer, including Jenn, who took a job teaching biology at Young Harris College in Georgia (her farewell dinner was last week at Herwig’s Austrian Bistro, and I took photos but accidentally deleted them before going to Hollemans on the 4th – ARGH). It’s a blessing being at a university where you get to meet so many good people, but it’s also sad to say goodbye so often.
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Because this could very well be my last 4th Fest in State College, I definitely wanted to watch them from the VIP area again, even though it’s $25/ticket to get in. But it’s worth it, in my opinion, as there are a lot of low fireworks (about a third of the show) and a couple set pieces that can only be seen from the VIP area. This year Tracy & David Z decided to join me as VIPs. It’s a pretty scenic backdrop where they shot them off–during the day anyway. Over 5,000 people watch the fireworks in the VIP section every year, but that’s just a fraction of the 200,000 or so people who come to State College for them. That’s right, more people descend on State College for the 4th Fest fireworks than come for a Penn State football game. It’s the single-largest attraction year-round in central Pennsylvania.
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Here are the stats for this year’s fireworks show that I heard one of the organizers mention:
- 15,700 shells fired in total (10,500 shells last year)
- 45 minutes in duration
- Average of 6 shells per second prior to the Grand Finale
- Average of 128 shells per second during the Grand Finale
- Grand Finale duration of 90 seconds
Here are some photos and videos I took:
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I thought this year’s show was higher on artistry than in years past. There were more cool shapes from the fireworks, including cubes, numbers (even two-digit numbers), hearts, discs, circumscribed stars, and sheaves of wheat (or eagles… it was hard to tell, hehe). However, the music by and large was a bit slow. They should’ve picked more upbeat songs like in years past. Even so, it was still a spectacular show, as always. FireworksGuide.com still ranks the Central PA 4th Fest as the #3 Independence Day display in the nation (behind only New York City and Boston), and back in 2000 Travel Channel ranked it as the #4 show in the entire world. It’s good, and I’m spoiled by it! As long as I’ve lived here, I’ve planned my summers around being here in town for the fireworks. When I do move away from State College, I’m really going to miss seeing this show, so I may as well live it up while I can! One never knows what next year holds.