You may easily understand why swamp rabbits have a love/hate relationship with fireworks - big eyes / even bigger ears! BUT we are far-sighted and partial to blue and green so if you’re looking for us while attending the fireworks display on the Liberty Bridge this July 4th in Falls Park we’ll be at the back, like waaay back, across River Drive near Linky Stone Park! Also, consumers can purchase fireworks in South Carolina so we rabbits will probably be watching from in the river.

To help you celebrate the Fourth of July in Greenville, scroll down the post and you’ll find a list of popular displays in the area and all the info on the Wells Fargo Red, White and Blue Festival.

fireworks in SC

Local 4th of July activities!

Here at last is the list for where to plant your lawn chair, pop a cold one and look to the sky this weekend.

4th of July Spectacular, Easley, July 2nd-4th

Slater-Marietta Moon Boom, Marietta, July 3rd

Red White and Blue Festival, Greenville, July 4th (Great view from our lot)

Freedom Dream Walk/Run, Anderson July 4th

Light Up the Lake, Union, July 4th

Red White and Boom, Spartanburg, July 4th

Buffalo Community's Annual Party at the Pond, July 4th, Buffalo

Seneca's 4th of July Celebration, Seneca, July 4th

Pickens 4th of July Celebration, Pickens, July 4th

Hillbilly Days, Mountain Rest, July 4th

While you, much smaller-eared bipeds, are inching closer to the action you can amuse your friends with these here fireworks fun facts…

Ancient-Chinese-fireworks

Speaking of “four”, the ancient Chinese are credited with giving the world four great inventions: the Compass, Paper Making, Printing, and… Gunpowder. The goal of any successful firework is to achieve one or several of four effects: Noise, Light, Smoke, and/or Floating Materials (like confetti).

Tybee Island palm effect

The earliest record of fireworks as a royal entertainment dates back to the 7th century during the Tang Dynasty. Fireworks were apparently available for the common people of China to purchase and enjoy during the Song Dynasty (960 - 1279). Over the next four centuries or so, fireworks (and gunpowder) spread across Asia and the rest of the world capturing, among others, the fancy of Peter the Great and the Russian court. In the 18th century a French priest living in Beijing wrote a detailed account of the manufacture and use of fireworks for the Paris Academy of Sciences. In 1749 Music for the Royal Fireworks was composed by George Frideric Handel to celebrate the Peace treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle and the whole world went Boom!!!

Preparing_Firework

Fireworks competitions are held around the world where companies compete with enormous displays. One of the largest is the World Pyro Olympics held in Manila, Philippines.

Besides sparklers and those snake-y things, fireworks are either of the self propelled "sky rocket" variety or the "mortar shell" which are shot from a launcher. In the fireworks industry the effects that most of us are familiar with go by the names of flowers like Peony, Chrysanthemum, Dahlia, Willow, and Palm, so look for those and see if you can recognize which is which when you look up in the sky this weekend. More involved types include multi break shells, or "Bouquet" style, "Fish", the ones that swirl around like fireflies , and contraptions like the "Catherine Wheel".

cherry flower Hamburg

Those beautiful colors in fireworks are generated by “pyrotechnic stars” usually just called stars - which produce intense light when ignited. Stars contain five basic types of ingredients: a fuel, an oxidizer, color producing chemicals, a binder, and a chlorine donor which strengthens the color.

Sydney Harbour

What chemicals make what colors, you ask? Wikipedia has provided a chart:

Color	Metal	Example compounds
Red	Strontium (intense red) Lithium (medium red)	SrCO₃ (strontium carbonate) Li₂CO₃ (lithium carbonate) LiCl (lithium chloride)
Orange	Calcium	CaCl₂ (calcium chloride)
Yellow	Sodium	NaNO₃ (sodium nitrate)
Green	Barium	BaCl₂ (barium chloride)
Blue	Copper halides	CuCl₂ (copper chloride), at low temperature
Indigo	Cesium	CsNO₃ (cesium nitrate)
Violet	Potassium Rubidium (violet-red)	KNO₃ (potassium nitrate) RbNO₃ (rubidium nitrate)
Gold	Charcoal, iron, or lampblack
White	Titanium, aluminium, beryllium, or magnesium powders

catherine wheel

Pecans and Pyros

Now how about getting your hands on some firecrackers to play pyro wizard on your own terms? Guess what! In South Carolina the average bear (or human, really, please don’t let the bears buy firecrackers - they use them to fish) can buy firecrackers at any one of MANY convenient roadside establishments. If you come from a no-firecrackers-for-amateurs state this may fill your school-kid heart with glee!

fruit and fireworks

"The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) as well as the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) have general jurisdiction over what types of fireworks may be legally sold in the United States. The federal law is only the minimum standard however, and each state is free to enact laws that are more stringent if they so choose." (wikipedia) Most common consumer fireworks are classified thusly: Class 1.4G (Minor Explosion Hazard Confined To Package:Pyrotechnics) UN0336 Fireworks (Consumer or Common Fireworks).

Cup o' gunpowder in a tin can

States such as New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Delaware ban all consumer fireworks completely. States like South Dakota, South Carolina (that’s us!) and Tennessee allow most or all legal consumer fireworks to be sold and used throughout the year.

No Smoking - no Sh*t?!

Liberty Bridge

We at the Swamp Rabbit Inn enjoy the Wells Fargo Red, White and Blue Festival fireworks from the comfort of our upper and lower back decks at the Inn! We have a great view of the fireworks from our parking lot and feel free to bring a chair and BYOB it in our or you can stroll down to the park and scooch up closer to the bridge if you like.

peaches and fireworks

Wells Fargo Red, White and Blue Festival - July 4, 2016, 5-10 p.m. in downtown Greenville, fireworks at 9:45 p.m. The festival in Falls Park will feature two live music stages with four different bands, yummy food, cold beverages and a Zaxby’s Kids Zone.

Have a good idea of how to celebrate your independence? Good. Go have fun! Be FREE!

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