IF Puts on A Good Show, Apparently

Digital City, a rather noisy blog out of New York City, has placed Idaho Falls' Melaleuca Freedom Celebration Fourth of July fireworks show as No. 17 on their Top 20 list for the best fireworks shows in the United States. You can read more about it here.

It's actually been a long time since I attended the show, which has changed a lot since I was a kid. I can recall going only once, and being fascinated not only by the fireworks but by the puffs of smoke I could see soaring overhead as I lay on a blanket on the Snake River Greenbelt. Other years we attended from a distance, once even getting our lawn chairs up on top of the chicken coop as our neighbors perched atop their chicken coop to ooh and aah. (We were hicks, Rita, what can I say?)

This year, it seems, the show will last slightly longer than half an hour and involve more than 15,000 shells. The only thing I don't like is the crowd -- they estimated last year that more than 100,000 people showed up to watch. That's about 99,000 more than I'm used to. Who am I kidding -- that's about 99,900 more than I'm used to.