Our festivities for the 4th of July had an early start with an anticipated fireworks celebration in Somerville on the 1st of July. Because of the world-renowned performance by the Boston Pops and their fireworks display on the Esplanade each 4th many communities anticipate the holiday with early firework displays.
Each year our Residents are the special guests of the city of Somerville. They receive the VIP treatment from start to finish. It was a cool but comfortable evening as we set out from the home the evening of July 1st. Our bus was able to drive right up to the stage area, where the Residents were helped to front row seats. They were front and center for the entire show preceding the fireworks. They were treated to a picnic lunch courtesy of the city and then sat back to watch as several groups performed in the hours leading up to the fireworks. Toes tapped, hands waved and many sang along as the USO group from New York sang many of the old time songs. The evening’s performances were capped with a performance by the Navy Band Northeast. Front and center for the entertainment, we were then front and center for the fireworks that followed. Ohhh’s and ahh’s filled the air as a spectacular display of color lit up the night sky. As the evening drew to a close, we were astonished to see our bus returning to the same spot at which it had left us off with the courtesy of a police escort, his blue emergency lights flashing! We were able to board the bus and headed home, a tired but very happy group.
The heat wave on the 5th did nothing to dampen our patriotic spirit and we celebrated our traditional barbeque with relish (no pun intended) on Monday, happy to be joined by all our staff who had been off over the weekend.
The auditorium was decked out in an abundance of red white and blue. Each table sported a flag themed tablecloth and had a centerpiece of red, white and blue carnations. Our kitchen staff did a tremendous job preparing a delicious picnic lunch of potato salad, corn on the cob, baked beans and grilled hamburgers and hot dogs. We topped off our picnic with cold, juicy sliced watermelon!
Celebrating our nation’s independence right here where it all began, we sure had a great 4th of July!
