Another spectacular July Fourth Celebration is in the books. I always wonder why the Fourth Fest Committee selects my front yard for firing the 6 a.m. salute each year. It must be something like a lottery and I just keep winning. Or maybe my residence is somewhat the central location — shooting off those mortars in the center of town probably assures that everyone hears them. The explosions certainly raise my head off the pillow!
The carnival got rave reviews from people with children and grandchildren. It was nice to see a carnival in the park again. I am not sure how many years it has been since Peabody was able to attract one, but this group was one of the better ones and it would be nice to know the Fourth Fest Committee had them signed up for another year.
We put together a float for Peabody Main Street and had three helpers who were 9 and younger. One of them was helping me attach some red, white, and blue garland with thumbtacks and she called them “stumthicks.” I was tempted to laugh, but she was so serious when asking me to pass her the container of “stumthicks” that I hated for her to think I was making fun of her. There is no particular point to this paragraph, other than to amuse you with a tale about a cute kid — I bet just about every reader out there could share a similar story.
Peabody Township Library had a pretty nice array of treasures for sale on the library lawn early Monday. The Married Daughter and I had perused the list of sale items and several library treasures caught our attention. I was able to purchase a nice 48-star flag in a cast iron stand that we can use in our Operation Celebration displays. There were some wicker rocking chairs that probably had been a part of the library’s inventory for generations. The Married Daughter and What’s His Name wrote a check for those. We both took advantage of the tables of books for sale to add to our winter reading stash. If you neglected to stop at their sale, you missed some great bargains.
Congratulations to celebration heads Preston and Lisa Hodges, and every person who volunteered to help with the 90th Annual July Fourth Celebration! You all did a stellar job of putting on a show to make this community proud and to carry on a truly honored tradition. Good for each of you. The rest of us appreciate what you do to promote this event and our community.
It was a great party and I have just one little comment in the preachy category. If you and your family used the city streets or sidewalks to shoot off fireworks, go clean up your mess. If you leave it there for the city crews to pick up, I hope you sit on a “stumthick” and I hope it hurts.
— Susan Marshall