Fourth of July my least favorite holiday of the year

Published 1:30 am Saturday, July 4, 2026

Happy 4th of July.

I hope you enjoy this holiday/celebration more than I do. It is my least favorite holiday of the year. It hasn’t always been that way. I loved the 4th when I was younger but things have changed.

As many people my age do, I’ll start off my story about how things were “when I was a kid … when things were so much better/different.”

I grew up in Niles, Illinois about 14 miles northwest of Chicago. It was a great place to grow up. Once a month, my brother Keith and I took turns picking a place we wanted to go Sunday after church. There were so many places to choose from: The Museum of Science and Industry with its Yesterday Main Street, an underground coal mine, a real German 505 submarine to walk through, and lots of other exhibits; The Field Museum, The Alder Planetarium, the Shedd Aquarium and one of my favorites, sitting at the end of a runway at Midway Airport and watch the planes take off right above our heads.

But I digress — back to the 4th of July in Niles. We always went to the neighborhood fireworks stand on July 3rd and picked up our favorites: sparklers, snakes, pin wheels, and my favorite — punks.

Then on the actual 4th the Glading family (and all our neighbors) would sit in the front yard and watch the sky light up with a fireworks display sponsored by the Tam O’Shanter Country Club that was about six blocks from our house. Rumor was the country club was owned by the mafia because people were always seeing big, black Cadillacs going in and out at all hours of the day and night. I’m not sure if the rumor was true but they did put on a good show on the 4th that we all appreciated.

After the 8-10 minute display the kids in the neighborhood would gather out in the street and set off our own stash.

I vividly remember one year when I was about 5, there was a heat-lightning storm on the evening of the 4th, and as we were sitting out front waiting for the fireworks to start, multiple lightning strikes lit up the sky for a couple of minutes — no thunder, just pretty lightning, and I loved it.

So the next year as we were sitting out front and the fireworks started, I asked my dad where was the lightning show. I was very disappointed when he explained to me that we would probably never again have a heat lightning show on the 4th ‘cause last year that was just a special gift from Mother Nature.

Years later when the Barkstrom kids were young, we’d get together with a couple of other families. One of the families lived on a large patch of ground out of town. After a dinner barbeque on the deck, the kids would start lighting up the “safe and sane” fireworks and then when it got really dark, we’d set off the wild and crazy stuff the dads had bought on the reservation.

Now in my 70s my perspective has definitely changed. I’m totally done with airborne fireworks. The big booms start going off three days before the actual holiday, shaking the windows in our house, keeping me awake at night, scaring dogs, cats and kids. We certainly don’t need anymore air pollution and the mess left on driveways, roads, in parks and on the beach is disgusting.

And heaven only knows that this being the country’s 250th anniversary, the “celebrations” will be much bigger, noisier and messier this year.

And as with most things that I complain about, I have a solution — a ban on consumer fireworks. Olympia, Tumwater, Lacey, Seattle, Tacoma, Everett, Mount Vernon and Renton as well as all of Spokane County already have a ban that makes perfect sense to me. Instead of the big city displays, we should consider a show utilizing drones. The scenes the drones create are even more spectacular than bursting fireworks, and they’re a lot safer, quieter and non-polluting.

I’m guessing I’ve opened a huge can of worms with this column and I’d love to hear from you whether you agree or disagree.

And you all have a safe 4th of July.

Karen Barkstrom is the editorial assistant for The Daily World. She can be reached at 360-537-3925 or karen.barkstrom@thedailyworld.com.