A Leaf in the Breeze: 4th of July Extravaganza!

Featherbone Ribs, Buster Bar, Scotcheroos, Bocce Ball, Racecar fireworks races, a planned out fireworks displayed set to music…..these are just a few of the details that make up the Schutz Family 4^th of July Extravaganza! Sometimes you don’t realize how much you truly enjoy something until you have to go without it one year. Around the holidays people often ask what your plans are, or invite you to various parties or gatherings.

For the Schutz family, the 4^th of July was one of those holidays you knew you would decline any other invitation you got because nothing was better than your family’s party. The only detail you needed to check the invitation for was what time “gates” were opening. Maybe in college you attempted some other plans, but the whole time you found yourself thinking, “People call THIS 4^th of July, they have no idea what they are missing out on.”

Buster Bar

As I think back to past year’s 4^th of July gatherings, I could tell you just about every detail including the menu. The main dish is Featherbone Ribs cooked by my uncle. These ribs are so good, that Bo and I decided that all we wanted for our wedding rehearsal dinner was my uncle’s ribs! Everyone else brings a side dish, and because the guests are the same every year, you can count on your favorite side dish from the prior year to be there the next year. There are salads, fruit bowls, deviled eggs, beans, the list goes on. And after you fill up on the main meal, the desert choices are Bluster Bars (an ice cream desert made by my aunt), Scotcheroos, or cookies.

The afternoon yard activities are made up of various games for various ages. The kids run around with water balloons and shoot off some little fireworks with their blow torches. The next generation can typically be found in the yard playing a game of Bocce Ball. And the older generation is sitting at the table with their dice yelling out “Snake Eyes”, “Box Cars”, and “Eight, Skate and Donate.”

On your mark, get set, go!

At some point after everyone has been there for a while but before it gets dark, it is time for the races. Everyone lines up in the street with their firework race car and the countdown begins. There is the standard class, and then the modified class. The goal is to have the car that goes the furthest, it doesn’t matter how fast it gets there. You just want it to be the one that travels the furthest down the street, in the right direction!

Then as the sun goes down, the real excitement begins! The fireworks display that they have been planning and preparing for multiple weeks. This is no “you light this one and when it gets done then I light that one” kinda show. The shells and roman candles have special canisters that allow multiple fireworks to be strung together so they go off one right after another. They get laid out in the street in a very specific order so that the men lighting can work from one row down to the next and so on. The patriotic music begins and the show gets started!