On this 4th of July, 2016 I decided to share some memories of this holiday throughout

When I was young the local fireworks were over Carteret Park which was about 1/2 mile from my house.  Sometimes we would walk there to see the fireworks but more likely we would just walk a few blocks to where the homes ended (after the barracks) and watched them across the field.  Once homes werebuilt on these fields, I remember a few times actually climbing on the roof of  our house and watching them sitting on the roof (pretty dangerous to get up there using ladders!). But my Dad though it was ok.  Eventually, the fireworks stopped occurring at Carteret Park because it became dangerous as homes were built  around it.

Many times we had a picnic at Marge’s parents house on the 4th during  the daytime.  I explicitly remember having lots of fireworks to shoot off during the day (fire crackers and other more dangerous fireworks).  We would place them in strange places (like  under cups or buckets or whatever) to increase the effects of the explosion.  At night we would have sparklers to light up the night. Growing up in Port Reading, everyone had fireworks to explode on the 4th.  Picnics and fireworks were just was part of the holiday.

Once I started dating Rose, our 4th of July custom was for me to drive to her home in Colonia in the evening (sometimes with Rick and Mike) and then walk about a mile to Merrill Park where the fireworks would be held.  Everyone in the area walked there to sit on the grass and wait until it got dark enough for the fireworks to start. It was something we did year after year until the fireworks stopped there also due to the danger to the surrounding homes.

There was not much in the way of local fireworks after that but sometimes we would drive to the piers in Carteret to see the NY City  fireworks in the distance.

The final memory of the 4th is the annual picnics at Mike and Tammy’s house first in Carteret and later in Monroe where the whole family (now including lots of cousins) would gather to celebrate.  Tammy really enjoyed decorating for this holiday and hosting the family. We played lots of games, ate lots of food and had a great time.