I grew up in a small town that was pretty good at celebrating holidays, but the 5th of July wasn’t one of the big ones in our town. We didn’t have a parade, though we had parades for memorial day, high school homecoming, and other holidays. Our town had as many veterans and other patriotic citizens as other small towns. Our fire department put on a pretty good amateur fireworks display for the 4th, However, the summer energy was focused on the week before July 4, which in our town was Rodeo Sunday.

Rodeo Sunday was a big deal in our town. We hosted what was billed as “The Biggest One Day Rodeo in the West.” We were the hometown of Cramer Rodeo Stock that provided bulls for riding, steers for wrestling, and broncs for busting all across the west. Animals from Cramer Ranch appeared in the Stampede in Calgary and other famous rodeos. Cramer Rodeo Stock is not to be confused with the Kramer family that produced a bareback champion who is in the Montana Rodeo Hall of Fame. We knew how to spell those names. As the small town nearest the Cramer ranch, we had to host a big rodeo and we had to have our rodeo before the other small towns in our area. Since Red Lodge was a little bit bigger than our town and had more tourists, they got to have their rodeo on the weekend after July 4. So our rodeo was the weekend before.

Church services, which usually were at 11 am, were moved up to 9 am on Rodeo Sunday. The parade headed down main street at noon and the rodeo started at 2 pm. We got new jeans for Rodeo Sunday every year. Some years we got new western shirts to go with those jeans. Cowboy boots were a bit of a luxury in my family and we generally wore our tennis shoes, but I remember one rodeo Sunday when I did have a new pair of boots.

Although my father’s shop was closed on July 4 so that employees could have a holiday, if the ranchers were cutting and baling hay the parts department had to be available, which meant that our father would run up to the shop to get parts for ranchers when they called. We usually had a picnic and cooked over the fire, but it wasn’t much different than many other summer weekends.

I was sharing a few memories of summer fun in our small town with our children and grandchildren yesterday as we waited for the fireworks to begin. The question got asked if I grew up with July 4 celebrations that were like those we participated in yesterday. Our day was pretty much what one would expect of July 4 in a small town.

We went to the parade in Blaine at noon. It was the first time I had attended the parade, which is a big deal. Cars were parking alongside the road a half mile from town. In town it was as hard to get around as Sturgis SD during the motorcycle rally. Streets wee blocked off, cars were parked on lawns, and things were generally quite crowded. After circling around, thinking that we might be able to park at the library only to discover that we couldn’t even get to the library, we found a place to walk about a half mile from the parade route. The parade had the usual politicians running in local elections, shiny fire trucks from the refinery, big machines from construction companies, beautiful cars from the car show, the high school band, horses including a couple of teams pulling wagons, floats from local businesses, and the like. Our grandchildren gathered enough treats thrown from parade vehicles to rival halloween.

Back at home we had a late lunch of grilled cheese sandwiches before imposing a quiet hour on excited grandchildren with the promise of being allowed to stay up late for fireworks. Supper was a traditional barbecue with hamburgers, hot dogs, salads, cherry pie and ice cream. The kids were wound up and the weather was beautiful so there was plenty of chasing and running and kicking balls and such as we waited for time to go to the fireworks.

We live up north, so the fireworks didn’t start until 10:30 which is well past the usual bedtime for our grandchildren and often past bedtime for their grandfather as well. For the fireworks display it did work to park at the library and the walk to the park on the waterfront was about the same distance as we walked to view the parade at noon. Both grandkids and grandparents got their steps in yesterday.

For a small town it was a pretty good display. Our son was well prepared with headphones that blocked the loudest blasts for the children to wear. The park was filled with a holiday crowd, but there was plenty of room for us to spread our blankets and watch the show.

It wasn’t the same as the small town celebrations of my childhood. The town where we now live isn’t the county seat and doesn’t have a rodeo. And I don’t think we ever had boats on trailers in the parades of the town where I grew up. We definitely didn’t have an ocean to reflect the bursts of fireworks for the evening’s show. Each small town has its own unique events and twists on the national holiday.

This is the third year that we have attended the July 4 fireworks at Marine Park in Blaine with some of our grandchildren. This year was special because our South Carolina grandson is visiting. Still the youngest grandson was at home in bed with his mother because the day had stretched out too long for him and he wouldn’t have appreciated the noise of the fireworks. Although we had all of our grandchildren for most of the day’s events, we had the kids matched one adult for each kid for the fireworks display.

It was a good day - one of many that I get to enjoy. I think I’m learning a bit about how to be retired. Not bad for an old guy.