Almost every Fourth of July, a few patriotic neighbors celebrate America’s independence by lighting up the Pullman sky with an unsanctioned fireworks show that’s always better than the big-time, big-money pyrotechnics bonanza at Navy Pier ... mostly because I can watch from my front yard.
After dark, folks gather in Arcade Park and watch from the Greenstone Church lawn as the anonymous crew of volunteers set off colorful blasts that decorate the sky with sparkling light.
I’m probably not supposed to say this because fireworks — even sparklers for crying out loud — are (mostly) illegal in Chicago, but my neighborhood’s intimate outlaw firework show is absolutely the best.
And it happens all over the city, including annual shows at Winnemac Park, Sheridan Park, Montrose Beach, and vacant lots and empty parking lots all over the South Side, according to people who brag about these things on social media.
When I mentioned being a fan of bootleg Fourth of July fireworks shows to Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford, he said there are probably a few good reasons for that.
“You’ve never seen what happens when one of those mortars tips over and shoots horizontally into a crowd of people,” he said. “And that happens even to guys who might know what they're doing.”
Also, Langford reminded me that I might not have such affection for hyper-local fireworks displays if a colorful ember set my house on fire.
Apparently, that happens more often than guys like me might like to think.
“I’ve seen it happen a couple times over by 60th and Normal when someone’s shooting fireworks in a vacant lot and they come down on a back porch or a roof,” Langford said.
“It looked like it went out but an ember must have got caught under a shingle and smoldered … and we had to go back and put that out.”
Langford wasn’t done pointing out what an idiot I am for being a fan of parking lot fireworks displays.
He shared the story of another guy “who knows what he’s doing” who met a sad fate while setting off some high-powered fireworks.
“One of them didn’t go off and he did the dumb thing. He went to look at it and it caught him in the head,” Langford said. “He was dead very fast.”
These cautionary tales, however, didn’t exactly change my mind on the pure joy that comes from watching outlaw fireworks displays that go off without a hitch.
I prefer to remain in denial about the dangers — and figure there are a lot of people who feel the same way.
And for that, Langford said some fire department truck and engine companies are scheduled to spend part of their shifts out in the neighborhoods keeping an eye out for rogue July 4th firework shows gone awry and maybe saving us from ourselves.
God bless America.
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