Mercs
Member
- Joined
- May 2019
- Messages
- 12
Hi all! Well I’m 36 now, been into fireworks since I can remember, honestly. I grew up on the north side of Chicago. It was always illegal to shoot fireworks, but my neighborhood often sounded like a war zone throughout June/July. Anyone who grew up in Chicago back in the day will know what I mean about the frequency of the noise. It was exciting, and it became a mandate for me and my friends to have some sort of fireworks on our persons at all times throughout the summer. Boy did we have fun in those days...
I used to bother my parents about buying fireworks starting in May. When the catalogs would arrive in the mail, I would diligently circle everything I wanted. We used to make an annual journey to Indiana to stock up. I’m so grateful to my parents for indulging me all those years, even though my father himself had an M-80 explode too close to his hand while playing chicken when he was a young man. Luckily the surgeon was able to sew his thumb back together. He would never touch crackers at all, and this also taught me never to trust a fuse completely. I’m glad I never had to learn that the hard way... my old man took that one for the team and passed on the lesson
As a young lad, On the mornings of July 5th, I would go out early and search for fireworks in the city streets and parkways. I would hope to find an unspent one that I could light of course, but also there was a strange fascination with spent rockets I had. I would love to find remains of really big ones, and imagine what they must have looked like when they detonated. I would even smell them. To this day I can smell them when I just think about it.
My uncle was the best. Don’t ask how, but for a few years when I was aged 10-13 he had the BEST 4th of July parties. I’m talking about a house that had frontage on a huge park in Chicago, with literally giant black garbage bags and boxes covering the entire deck... just LOADED with all types of fireworks. It was a dream come true for me! I’ll never forget that and always be grateful for that fantasy turned reality that he provided for me and all of my cousins. Our parents were all so cool, they supervised, but let us kids light stuff all night long! And it was the good stuff (I love you Uncle Nicky!)
I’ll never forget when we got our first batch of 3” salute shells as teenagers, and I missed the Visco with my cigarette and hit the quick match instead - boy I got a real bell-ringer from that mortar, and was seeing stars for awhile! I would never have my head over the tube or anything, or light a cracker in my hand, but the imminent danger of loud and powerful fireworks always excited me though. I know now that we should have never had stuff like that at that age, we used PVC pipes in buckets full of sand to shoot them, ffs. This is one of the reasons I am so respectful of pyro education and safety, and believe it should come at a young age so bad things hopefully don’t happen
Fast forward to today and I do a firework show every year for my family, friends, and neighbors. I have a firing system and I collect fireworks all year round to try to save money. I don’t ask anyone for funds to help pay for the fireworks because I know damn well I’m doing it whether anyone else comes or not LOL. Problem is, this last year I had a neighbor complain on the 4th of July and interrupted my party and plans. The bottom line is it’s illegal here and if someone doesn’t like them, all your plans, time, and money spent are for nothing. So next year I think I want to go to Indiana somewhere where people can appreciate this great national pastime of ours. I also sent email to the Heartland club to see if I can join there and maybe get some more time to enjoy fireworks with my family, and without the police being involved.
I know it’s a really long intro but I’m very glad to have finally decided to join a forum like this and also a club to peruse my beloved hobby.
Nice to meet you all!
I used to bother my parents about buying fireworks starting in May. When the catalogs would arrive in the mail, I would diligently circle everything I wanted. We used to make an annual journey to Indiana to stock up. I’m so grateful to my parents for indulging me all those years, even though my father himself had an M-80 explode too close to his hand while playing chicken when he was a young man. Luckily the surgeon was able to sew his thumb back together. He would never touch crackers at all, and this also taught me never to trust a fuse completely. I’m glad I never had to learn that the hard way... my old man took that one for the team and passed on the lesson
As a young lad, On the mornings of July 5th, I would go out early and search for fireworks in the city streets and parkways. I would hope to find an unspent one that I could light of course, but also there was a strange fascination with spent rockets I had. I would love to find remains of really big ones, and imagine what they must have looked like when they detonated. I would even smell them. To this day I can smell them when I just think about it.
My uncle was the best. Don’t ask how, but for a few years when I was aged 10-13 he had the BEST 4th of July parties. I’m talking about a house that had frontage on a huge park in Chicago, with literally giant black garbage bags and boxes covering the entire deck... just LOADED with all types of fireworks. It was a dream come true for me! I’ll never forget that and always be grateful for that fantasy turned reality that he provided for me and all of my cousins. Our parents were all so cool, they supervised, but let us kids light stuff all night long! And it was the good stuff (I love you Uncle Nicky!)
I’ll never forget when we got our first batch of 3” salute shells as teenagers, and I missed the Visco with my cigarette and hit the quick match instead - boy I got a real bell-ringer from that mortar, and was seeing stars for awhile! I would never have my head over the tube or anything, or light a cracker in my hand, but the imminent danger of loud and powerful fireworks always excited me though. I know now that we should have never had stuff like that at that age, we used PVC pipes in buckets full of sand to shoot them, ffs. This is one of the reasons I am so respectful of pyro education and safety, and believe it should come at a young age so bad things hopefully don’t happen
Fast forward to today and I do a firework show every year for my family, friends, and neighbors. I have a firing system and I collect fireworks all year round to try to save money. I don’t ask anyone for funds to help pay for the fireworks because I know damn well I’m doing it whether anyone else comes or not LOL. Problem is, this last year I had a neighbor complain on the 4th of July and interrupted my party and plans. The bottom line is it’s illegal here and if someone doesn’t like them, all your plans, time, and money spent are for nothing. So next year I think I want to go to Indiana somewhere where people can appreciate this great national pastime of ours. I also sent email to the Heartland club to see if I can join there and maybe get some more time to enjoy fireworks with my family, and without the police being involved.
I know it’s a really long intro but I’m very glad to have finally decided to join a forum like this and also a club to peruse my beloved hobby.
Nice to meet you all!
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