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Freedom Cakes and Wine
The staple of the festivities! Alphabetical Altitudes
I spent the fourth of July at the M this year. For those of you who don't know what the M is, it is a large M constructed into the side of the Bridger Mountains facing Bozeman. This is not an unusual thing in Montana. For some reason almost every city and town in Montana has the abbreviation of their name on some Mountain or Hill right next door. Now I know what you're saying, Bozeman doesn't start with an M, and your primary school teacher would be very happy at your correct observation. The M by Bozeman stands for Montana State University, there is a B on the other side of the Mountain, but unfortunately due to time and lack of up-keep it is fairly faded and grown in.
Explosions In The City
From my understanding of Montana state law, it's perfectly legal to by large caliber fireworks and shoot them off in the city around the dates of July 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th (though people were a little anxious this year and started some where around June 28th). When I say large caliber, I'm not talking about roman candles and large bottle rockets, I'm talking
about the fireworks you see at your rural fireworks displays (I personally know someone who went to Wyoming and bought 400 dollars worth of arsenal for this particular weekend). So luckily I was 800 feet above the city sitting by the M with about 30 other Bozemanites and looking down as explosions burst above the city like strange flowers coming to sprout sporadicly about high in the air and than realizing that they couldn't quite live with out the ground, fizzled and fell back to the lake of lights that was Boze-angeles, Montifornia. Though it was rather beautiful up above the city proper, I bet it was rather frightening/exhilirating down below as every corner you might run to there is another explosion going off or rocket soaring up in front of someone's house (particularly mine, according to one of my neighbors the house across the street was competing against the city's official fireworks display and shooting a huge cannon off in the middle of the road and fireworks rained down amongst the houses of my street), in the middle of the road, or down back alleys with people hooting and hollaring their love of freedom.
The Crew
Being quite
in the spirit for merry making the evening of the fourth I called up my friend Aaron and we shuttled over to safeway to buy some delicious freedom cake (24 cupcakes frosted to look like Old Glory herself) and a bottle of smoking loon Merlot before we treked up to the M. Aaron had lived in Bozeman for three years and never hiked the M so we thought it indeed a very special occasion and worthy of snacks and goodies to celebrate. Up ontop of the M we met roughly thity other young folk, who were very thankful for the freedom cakes and some sips of vino!
Almost the fifth of July Fireworks
Doesn't it always seem to be the case that the "official" fireworks show is traditionally late? This fourth was indeed no exception, as the 10:15 start date came and went with the cold wind blowing off from Mount Baldy behind us and down into the city. Patiently we waited, with no radio and no television to tell us of any news of the fairgrounds firework display, people turned to their cell phones for answers, sure enough people in the city relayed back to us that the
fireworks had indeed been delayed, something about some fuse issues. So we, the people of the M, gathered closer against the chill of night, shared freedom cakes (which had a little too much frosting, which some would feel is an appropriate metaphor) and waited until 11:00pm when the show began. It started just as the rest of the city was dying down with their own explosive entertainment and truely the city went all out, explosion after explosion, like a stream of fire and light shooting up from the fairgrounds just outside the city. It was truely a sight to behold (if only I had caught it on camera, though I'm sure if I did it wouldn't do the fireworks justice as cameras tend to lack the ability to catch the certain "je ne sais guoi").
The Aftermath
The fourth of July was indeed a very good time here in Bozeman, but like all crazy events their is sometimes a darker side to the merriment. In this case it just happens to be that their has been an arsonist running around town these weeks before (and I'm sure after) the Fourth of July. I won't go much into the
details,
People of The M
and half of Aaron's face! but it has ended in the combustion of three cars, a barn, a dumpster, and the saddest of all is the Pavilion at Bogart Park, which has put the brakes on both the Farmers Market and some free concerts this summer. Hopefully they catch the evil bastard.
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