Those who wanted fun, and had foresight, knew they could hold off on The Top American Holiday until near its end, when the rain ebbed

The first of five festive days got off with a bang, if you were willing to wait through the rain and take in the last of the area fireworks, and could find a spot to park where you were able to before — and not fire off responses to the interspersed political rhetoric:
— Things thus far seem to be finally be falling into place weatherwise as what some are taking as a five-day weekend had promised such conditions, with more moderate temps and lack of rain, as was pointed out frequently by radio deejays in the wee hours (near bar time) early Thursday morning. That’s if you were one of those who had the foresight and luck to have taken the time off for the two usually work days after The mid-week Fourth, not the pair before.
— Some interesting things were said from the podium, so to speak, to introduce the Stillwater fireworks. They were called the tops in Minnesota (even though, as was pointed out by Wisconsinites late on Wednesday night, they were shot off from the Badger State side), and the speaker of This House asked all watching to put aside their political differences and stand in honor of the flag, which it was said by a Hudsonite who watched with eagerness that everyone complied with. I suggested that there likely were dissenters, but they have over time been verbally bludgeoned into submission.
— We parked in our usual spot to watch the fireworks, directly across the street from the Next Stop bar in Houlton, to the south along a portion of County E that happened to be part of a small-scale road construction project — mostly just more gravel than usual on what had been the shoulder — when a sheriff’s deputy pulled up to us and others and car by car told us that we’d have to move. You could see these guys patrolling by the nearby intersection every couple of minutes, it seemed, to enforce safety, etc., as the whole area drew more people than usual. (See below). So it wasn’t just the fireworks displays that were highly visible. Thus, the Next Stop lot and that of the liquor store in back of it were full to capacity. One guy early-on even slid off into the ditch and had to work with difficulty to get back onto the main driving area — gravel as it was.
— One of the few places that had a significant special, along with their usual play on words, was the aforementioned Next Stop. They were plying, as they called it, their Red White and Brew BBQ meal (that being pulled pork and a beer was fit into the mix also). Not unlike the before-off-sale-closed patron in North Hudson, just across the road from the fireworks stand, who bought a case of Red (and white, but also black, on the cover design) Dog beer.
— But it was the fireworks that were the height of things in Houlton, as you went on down the highway, to the south. With the new road alignment, and lots more lanes and shoulders available, there were scores of people parking in any place that was reasonable. When the finale was done, bringing some applause and just three horn honks that could be heard where I was sitting, in order to get on the new round-about you had to, well, wait around. A possible reason there were so many additional watchers was that St. Paul didn’t shoot off anything official this year, which in itself was unusual, and their patrons may have come here — just like an old friend I ran into who had come all the way from Blaine, after having in earlier years worked in downtown Hudson at Pier 500 and the now closed Stone Tap.
— On the hill, where fireworks could logically be shown the best and brightest because of altitude, Green Mill closed its bar at 9 p.m. so workers could watch them with their families (kudos to them). I found this out just before the time when they normally would shut down, via a sign on the door. But Buffalo Wild Wings saved the day by holding out its last call a few minutes longer than usual.
— Meanwhile downtown on the Fourth, it was role reversal as the Smilin’ Moose had virtually no one, but Dick’s was hopping because they were the only ones in town playing music on a night when they all normally would not, in the form of their usual weekend deejay. Loco Rio cantina and tequila bar didn’t have its dance floor open, as evidenced by all the tables that could be seen still in place there shortly after their closing. The foursome that did make their way to The Moose late didn’t stay long, and were at Dick’s a short time after that.
— Over at Dick’s were some current and former servers from Buffalo Wild Wings whom I know well. One of them looked like she’d been being as festive as you could reasonable be on the Fourth, and having been reunited with her after a while, was almost talking in tongues. OK, that’s an overstatement, but all she said was (tainted?) with what sounded like a Scandinavian accent, and I say that because after all, this is an American holiday — my God, am I starting to sound like Trump?
— And over at Pudge’s, the servers through all the days of this period were wearing their bright red Booster themed shirts. But they may have been seeing red over the frequent, but not in all cases, lack of customer traffic.