After a day spent watching the largest Fourth of July parade in
the Bay Area and enjoying the afternoon festival at Community Park,
thousands gathered Sunday at the park to watch a huge display of
fireworks.
After a day spent watching the largest Fourth of July parade in the Bay Area and enjoying the afternoon festival at Community Park, thousands gathered Sunday at the park to watch a huge display of fireworks.
Unlike last year’s event, the wind wasn’t a worrying factor and the show began at 9:30 p.m., concluding a day full of live music, arts and races.
Entertaining the crowd, which began arriving hours before show began, were The Dadz, a classic rock band that got people up and dancing until nightfall.
Dancing was not the only past-time for people who found the time to play catch or catch up on some reading. Others played cards, with their kids or each other.
The fireworks were kicked off by Christine Varela singing the national anthem – her third time. When Varela reached the “rockets red glare” line, several fireworks went off to the cheers of the crowd, adding a unique touch to the song.
“They told me not to be afraid, they were going to be shooting the fireworks off at that part in the song,” Varela said. “But it was a great touch.”
Music continued to play during the show, even adding famous quotes from different periods of history including the Columbia Shuttle disaster.
“It was much more fun with the music,” said San Jose resident Nicole Smith.
Like the rest of the Independence Day activities, the fireworks were organized by IDI, through support from the community and co-sponsored by the City of Morgan Hill.
“(The fireworks) were not long enough,” Varela said. “The community needs to invest more in IDI to keep the show and make it better.”
Representatives from Morgan Hill’s sister city in Mexico, San Martin De Hidalgo, were in town to take part in the Independence Day weekend. And after being delayed by traffic from San Francisco, they watched the children perform in the parade.
As a special treat to the delegation, including San Martin De Hidalgo’s mayor, the children sang a song, in Spanish, wishing for peace and love to the entire world. The song met with a standing ovation from the delegation.
Also honored at the parade were those who fought in any of the four branches of the military with a medley of songs. Members in the audience rose when their branch was called, along with children who had family or friends in any of the services.
IDI president Daryl Manning said it was not just Morgan Hill residents enjoying the fruit of IDI’s labors.
“People from San Jose kept calling my cell phone until 7:30 p.m. Sunday,” Manning said, “with questions about the festival and the fireworks.”
She said the IDI planning committee was the best she has seen but the public helped too. Despite an expected shortage of volunteers to help with the events people showed up ready to work.
“People really came through,” she said. “They pitched in and helped.”
Earlier Sunday, many parade-watchers enjoyed a pancake breakfast at P.A. Walsh School that was prepared by the Kiwanis Club. The pancake breakfast was accompanied by the annual 5K Firecracker Run that had more runners and walkers than ever before, said Charles Weston, the run organizer.
The other sports-oriented event IDI uses to raise funds to cover parade and fireworks – and all those tables, chairs and Porta-Potties at the street dance and festival – costs is a golf tournament at Gilroy Golf Course, always the final Friday in June.
By 11:30 a.m. Monday morning the entire Community Park was clean of every sign of the thousands having a good time picnicking and watching fireworks just a few, short hours before.
Manning also had good words for the Morgan Hill Police Department, on hand to keep an eye on the crowd and find lost parents.
And Sunday as the last of the parade entries finished and clean-up crews began their work, thoughts of next year were already on the minds of event organizers. The festivities for the fourth are planned by IDI more than a year in advance.
Race results and parade category winners will soon be put up on the IDI website.
Details: www.mhidi.com
