INDEPENDENCE DAY

Fourth of July was quite a day on Coronado Island.  It ended with half a million shivering souls surrounding San Diego Bay, waiting for the annual fireworks celebration known as “Big Bay Boom.”  As you may have heard on the national news, this year it was “Big Bay Bust.”  At five minutes before the scheduled 9 pm start, every single one of the fireworks from four separate barges ignited all at once, setting off this huge conflagration that completely illuminated the night sky.  Children and adults alike covered their ears.  It was loud and magnificent!  Everyone thought it was a terrific start to the fireworks display.  Unfortunately, no one realized until later that it was also the finale.  Twenty-eight seconds of fireworks spectacle.  We had fun anyway and we’ve been chuckling about it ever since.  That’ll never happen again!

The day began for us with the Coronado Fourth of July Parade.  This small community with a normal population of 25,000 swells to about a hundred thousand folks as they all come to watch this All-American event – unabashedly patriotic, endlessly entertaining and totally diverse, as California is wont to be.  The chilly and overcast day brought out coats, hats and blankets along with shorts and sandals.  Folks start setting up chairs and canopies at 4 am for the 10 am start. Just like a Steelers tailgate, it’s important to have the perfect spot to catch all the action.  We rode bikes down to the Orange Avenue parade route and staked out a small parcel behind a front row canopy.  Our kind neighbors from the Coronado Retirement Village soon invited us to take the two extra chairs they had available.  How lucky for us, especially when the drizzle came halfway through the two-hour extravaganza.  

The rest of the story is best told through a few of our photos.  

All the community policemen and firemen were there. Check out the back of the t-shirt. It's a small world.

The Navy Band was there, as well as many other marching bands.  The military was well represented and war veterans rode in pomp and circumstance to thunderous applause.  Flags waved in abundance.  The living Iwo Jima statue was sobering.

And what would a parade be without all the local politicians and clowns? 

Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, dog rescue groups, they all were well represented. But we also enjoyed Star Wars Desert Troopers, belly dancers and an entire group of women dressed as flamingos.

And here comes the local community theatre (their current production is "Joe vs the Volcano") and the medieval reenactment group!

In between the parade and the fireworks, we enjoyed the Coronado Community Band concert in Spreckles Park. Rousing Sousa marches and military hymns ruled the day.  Kids in the audience did cartwheels and twirled hula hoops in time to the music and tried not to step on the picnic baskets. 

You couldn’t ask for a more quintessential American Independence Day than the one we spent on Coronado Island.  We’ll never forget it.