It is fast becoming a civic tradition in Dallas to spend the evening of the 4th of July at Fair Park. This year, like last the city put on a big Independence Day party and thousands of Dallasites attended.
Fair Park, site of the yearly State Fair of Texas is one of the largest collection of Art Deco exhibition buildings in the world. Most of the park was rebuilt for the 1936 Texas Centennial Exhibition, often noted as one of the unofficial world's fairs of the 1930's. The park is spacious, beautiful and right in the middle of town. As a side note, the park is something I know a lot about since I did a documentary film on the fair and the behind the sceens activities that make it run.
Sitting in our portable canvas chairs, my friends and I enjoyed the evening performance by the Dallas Wind Symphony followed by a fireworks show put on by the famous Grucci family of Long Island.
The music was a medley of every patriotic song we could imagine, and the fireworks were spectacular. The Gruccis have a way with pyrotechnics. Their shells are delicate and -surprising. The multi-color bursts and the multi-stage and color shells got a fair share of "oohs" and "ahhs" But the brilliant orange and rich lilacs they achieve were really art painted in fire across the sky.
It was not the most elaborate show I have seen the Grucci's do, but for a free city sponsored event it was damned good. We didn't have time to getdown to the midway where for the first time in many years rides were open for the occasion, but I understand it was fun as well.
I really like the fact that our city is starting to have these kinds of events. They are not only fun, but they make me feel like I am actually part of a community. The variety of citizens that turned out was wonderful. Rich, poor and everyone in between shared the common experience of the music and fireworks and enjoying one of our city's treasures, Fair Park.
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I watched a fireworks display by the City of Waxahachie on Friday, and was given a 35 minute show that was very enjoyable. Tonight, Saturday, I watched the Fair Park display. The colors were great. Had I not had to get there 2 1/2 hours early to get a good spot, then given a mere 20 minutes of fireworks to watch, and then had to traverse through extreme traffic for another 45 minutes to get to I45, I might have almost enjoyed it. As it is, I left fully disappointed and will probably skip that particular show for years to come. It was a total waste of time and effort.
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