My Obsession with Fireworks
Guy Fawkes Day in England (November 5th) is what started my obsession with fireworks. Every year, villages across the country build huge bonfires with effigies of the notorious Guy Fawkes sitting on the top. (He was the chap placed in charge of the 36 barrels of gunpowder hidden under the Houses of Parliament by the English Catholics plotting to blow up the Houses of Parliament to assassinate King James I.) The locals march to the bonfire site carrying blazing torches and on the given command, throw them onto huge pile of wood, setting it alight along with Guy himself. Shortly thereafter the firework show begins.
Here in New Hope and Lambertville (towns across the Delaware from one another) we have fireworks every Friday night during the summer. Set off from a barge moored in the middle of the river, the show is 10 minutes long but they are an intense 10 minutes – like the last minute of everyone else’s. Some of the most unique fireworks I’ve ever seen and a different show every week. Taking great care to find a spot on the bridge that won’t be enveloped by drifting smoke, I set up my tripod and wait excitedly for the announcer’s countdown. On zero, massive rockets shoot high into the sky sending wondrous showers of sparkles, smiley faces and plumes of color across the heavens. Thats’s when the manipulation begins!
