Independence Day is a big deal in Provo Utah. There are lots of things going on like the Hot Air balloons that are launched on the two days prior to the 4th, the big freedom run the morning of the fourth and of course the parade.
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| July 2nd, balloons launching from thee park west of Provo High School |
Friday morning as we were working in the yard we noticed a hot air balloon launching from the park next to our church. It is the balloon owned by our Stake President, Jeff Alexander. He uses it to promote his printing business.
Friday was a holiday for both Susie and I so we were up early to take advantage of the cool weather and get some yard work done. First thing on the agenda was to stain the front deck. It hadn't been done for 2 years. Kevin was up early and outside before I was out of bed. Here he is putting the finishing touches on with a brush.
We spent the rest of the day working in the yard and installing shelving in the pantry in our downstairs kitchen.
For the past 5 years our Scouts have done a fund raiser at the Freedom Festival parade. We sell water and Otter Pops along the parade route for high profits. Most of the leg work to get water and otter pops has fallen to me over the years, probably because it is easiest for me to manage it that way.
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| Seven of the 11 coolers of ice water chilling in our basement storage area. They leaked all over the carpet |
I start purchasing water and otter pops the beginning of June and we get all the pops in the freezer at least 2 weeks before the parade to make sure they are frozen. Then we have to get all the coolers together and wagons to haul the coolers. The Wednesday before the parade we put all the water in coolers. Then the night before the parade we put ice in the coolers to get the water cold.
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| Unloading coolers and wagons after the parade. I was too occupied before the parade to take photos. |
Finally, the morning of the parade we put the Otter Pops on dry ice and head for the parade route. As usual we put one group at the north end of the parade and one group at the south end of the parade. Normally it would take about 10 minutes to drive to our spot east of the Provo City Library but on July 4th morning it takes about 25 minutes because we have to go through the parking lot at the BYU Law School then we got stuck behind a stage coach with a team of 4 horses of all things. And the Provo Police had closed the area we used last year. Always some annoyance with this parade.
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| Mark Larsen, Ethan Chan, and Zach Eliason loading the carts while Thomas Chan looks on. |
This year I decided since I had done all the work getting ready I would not sell but rather would sit and guard our supplies. We used 3 wagons on the north end with Alex Jensen, Manual Masbernat, and Thomas Chan supervising the wagons. We had 4 Eagle Scouts selling on our end, Ethan Chan, Zach Eliason, Mark Larsen, and Yhann Masbernat. Great young men. Our lead sales team was Manuel Masbernat and Yhann Masbernat. They emigrated from Chile 5 years ago and have been a great addition to our program. Manuel was stake president in Santiago.
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| Manuel and Yhann Masbernat |
The forecast for this year was high temperatures near 100 with a very warm overnight temp of 73. Instead we woke up to thick overcast and a temperature around 71. It even rained on us while we were loading the trucks this morning. But as usual around 9 am it started to heat up, the sun peaked out and sales took off. We started running out of water and otter pops around 10 am. In all we sold $1800 worth of product which isn't bad with only 7 wagons. After the parade we were back to our house for hot dogs and chips.
The highlight of the parade was Yhann Masbernat getting to fire the BYU ROTC cannon at the end of the parade. Isn't this a great photo?
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| Susie passing out snacks to Janee, Rick, Mom, and Jill (behind Susie) |
No July 4th is complete without the Roper family getting together for dinner at our house and watching the fireworks afterwards. This year we added a twist with Susie's brother Rick and his family joining us. All the Haines were out of state and my brother Bryce's children were in Logan so we ended up with only 9 for dinner.
After dinner we went out front to watch the fireworks from Stadium of Fire. There were so many fireworks being shot off around our neighborhood that it felt like a surround sound event. We finally collapsed into bed around 11:30 with the local fireworks blasting away until well after midnight.
