Times Are Tough, Fireworks Are Frivolous

By now, the booms and bangs, oohs and aahs of Fourth of July fireworks are a fond memory. They’ll still sound in Wildwood on Friday nights, but, for the sake of argument, let’s focus on July 4.
In the event you have been on a spaceship since 1948 and just landed, every town in this state, and most of the nation for that matter, is suffering from a lack of money. In the old days, someone would have vocalized the problem, “We’re broke!” However, broke today isn’t a fashionable word, nor is it politically correct.
It’s acceptable to say the budget is stretched to the max or the town is financially strapped, but broke? No. Broke is a step away from bankruptcy, and that’s something municipalities cannot be.
So, what does all this have to do with the Fourth of July?
Fireworks, that’s what.
I like lobster, although I believe it is seriously overrated and overpriced.
Lobster is like fireworks, nice, but seriously overpriced for the pleasure they afford.
A brief, say 10-minute snap, crackle, and boom show can cost from $5,000 to $7,000 or more, depending upon the assortment of fireworks that are sent skyward. Middle Township’s show, approved March 3 by Township Committee cost $6,695, and was produced by Vineland Fireworks.
Bigger displays, like those used to brighten skies over Washington and New York City cost astronomical amounts, enough to put food in homeless shelters for a couple of years.
I went to the Middle Township fireworks show. Fool that I was I set up a camera in hopes of getting some images that would memorialize the evening at the Davies Sports Complex.
The thrill of fireworks is long gone, at least for me. Attendance at the event is a day of municipal obligation. “The Fourth of July comes only once a year, so don’t miss it,” Mom would say. But would the world be a less meaningful place without fireworks? Honestly? No.
If the snide comments I heard as rain fell and fireworks shot upward in the wet night sky, maybe it’s time to dedicate the fireworks’ money into prizes for the afternoon games.
“I’m a taxpayer; is that the best they can give me?” So help me, that was the comment from a couple of cigar-smoking gentlemen within earshot of me that night.
I wasn’t about to challenge them, (never get in a brawl with some guy you can’t even see), but I felt like telling them that $7,000 doesn’t go as far as it once did.
Timing is everything. I remained mum. Fireworks through rain-splattered eyeglasses may be quite spectacular, but was it worth the price? Nah.
Up and down the coast, pockets of people gather in the fading July 4 daylight to watch fireworks. They do so because their parents or grandparents did the same with them.
There is nothing wrong or evil with fireworks, but in the present economic climate, it is time to save money spent on about 10 minutes of rose-shaped aerial artistry.
If there is enough loot in a budget to shoot fireworks for a fleeting bit of admiration, someone needs to cut the budget by that amount.
If all the money spent on pyrotechnics, not only in Middle Township but elsewhere, to celebrate the nation’s birth stayed on the ground, even if it didn’t move out of the recreation budget, think what other things could be purchased.
The people of the community could better use soccer balls or baseball gloves, footballs, kites and marbles, art supplies and musical instruments than to look into the night sky, and then complain when it is over.
My dear father would have no part of fireworks. He once witnessed a catastrophe when a fireworks display went awry and fell into a crowd. That ended the joy of fireworks for him.
Will hate mail and Spout Offs snow me from fireworks devotees? Probably.
Will they make me change my mind about fireworks? No.
Am I ready to hear proposals for what else to do with all the money used for Fourth of July fireworks? You bet.
I always respected what Dennis Township did about fireworks. They held off a Fourth of July display in favor of fireworks for the National Night Out in August. For a fraction of the money spent on July 4, they got a show that was equal to or better than neighbors who forked out bigger bucks.
Prior to July 4, Ocean City Police Department sent press releases telling of its no-tolerance policy for merchants who sold illicit fireworks.
Fines upward of $7,500 were in store for offenders.
Personal possession of even sparklers is illegal in this fair state, but I wish I had a buck for every illegal bang I heard around the neighborhood. Cross the state line, go to Virginia and they’re legal as potato chips.
My neighborhood reminded me of Lunar New Year in Chinatown, bang, bang, boom, and bang.
Against the law though it was, at least no public funds were used to make the noise.
I will be anxious to hear how others view costly fireworks displays.
If fiscal sanity is to start, it must begin at the grassroots level. If taxpayers told elected officials they were fed up with fireworks, it’s a good bet the leaders would quickly fall into line.
Don’t expect any elected official to champion dousing the fireworks’ fuse. It will never happen. That would be tantamount to campaigning against home, apple pie and Mom, so officials won’t touch it with a 10-foot fuse.
What’s the public’s sentiment about fireworks? Are they, like lobster, worth the price regardless of the benefit? Are they optional in tough financial times?
Would the Founding Fathers approve of such frivolity for fireworks, or would they be mindful of the admonition: A fool and his money are soon parted?