I missed out on the fireworks last night. And the night before. And tonight I’ll be missing them yet again. On balance, some years we’re able to enjoy them on multiple nights because we celebrate the first, second, third, and Fourth of July in our neck of the woods. Or, as my late father-in-law used to say about his own birthday, we celebrate a birthday season. Why celebrate Independence Day when we can extend America’s birthday to Independence Days?!

So, fireworks or not, I’d like to offer up a few mementos on Independence Days past. The photographs in this post were snapped between 2010 and 2016, making the most recent seven years old. It hardly seems possible! And yet the rituals remain largely unchanged, year-after-year, and that, my friends, is no not a negligible part of the charm.

Independence Day Fireworks

Although I may have missed the fireworks this year, here are a few reminders of booms and blasts, pyrotechnic palm trees and paisleys, aerial blooms from 2011 and 2016.

Photographed — in all three cases, as I recall — from the lower deck at the Westport Yacht Club, these iPhone images are at best fuzzy fill-ins for the razzle-dazzle of my memory.

In this third photograph, a cluster of lights just below the black silhouetted horizon, is the Westport Marina. As a dock boy in the 1980s and 1990s, I remember looking toward the “old public beach“ as colorful mortars were launched in short succession, provoking ooohs and aaahs from boaters and Galley guests.

Independence Day Parade

Although the pomp and circumstance of Independence Day fireworks are inevitably the most dramatic symbol of our nation’s birthday commemoration, the every-other-year Essex parade is almost as popular.

Fortunately for us, the parade passes directly in front of Rosslyn, affording us front row seats.

From boats and floats to horses and horsepower, it’s always fun to observe the pageantry.

Classic cars, tractors, and even an occasional unicycle roll past, tossing candy and tooting horns.

As I flip through photographs, comparing the years, in struck by how often the same vehicles and the same smiling faces are present.

And it’s not just muscle cars and nostalgic jalopies that commemorate the birth of our nation. Veterans remind us that the tribute we observe is and was a a patriotic path from nascent democracy to global superpower.

Gravitas notwithstanding, handsome vehicles like the one below, offer a wistful bridge to times of yore.

To everyone who organized and participated in our 2023 Independence Day festivities, thank you. It’s a privilege to witness the enthusiasm and merriment each July 4th. And July 3rd. And July 2nd. And July 1st… Happy Independence Day!