This year’s Fourth of July celebration was the 249th anniversary of the United States. Hastings was filled with private parties and their own fireworks shows in between the Hastings Golf Club and Events parade at 7:00 p.m. and their fireworks show sponsored by Vermillion Bank at 10:00 p.m.
The day started off very warm and sunny, allowing families plenty of time to celebrate on their own before joining in on the community festivities. The parade started just moments after 7:00 p.m. from the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parking lot. 37 floats traveled down 15th Street West to Westview Drive passing out tons of goodies along the nearly mile long route. It took roughly half an hour to see the parade from start to finish of the floats with the entire parade lasting almost an hour.
After the parade, many residents headed over to the golf course and event center at Hastings Golf Club for music, food and drinks while they waited for the fireworks show to start. The show started right at 10:00 p.m. and the night was perfect even if it was still a little warm from the heat of the day. The show ran right around 23 minutes, the typical length of the last several years and it could be seen from many great spots around town.
I set up my viewing and photo shoot from the top of the old garbage dump at 19th Street West and Edgewood Lane, a spot that is usually much busier than it was this year. It does require some quality bug spray to go there, but the view is nearly perfect and there are usually one or two very close private shows leading up to the Vermillion Bank sponsored show.
This year’s fireworks show did not disappoint in person. It was well paced, and the finale is always fun. Visit our website, www.hastingsjournal.news, for more pictures from the night. So, head over there to see the bonus fireworks and parade pictures. In all, you should see a total of around 60 pics from this year’s celebration including one of every float in the parade.
We at the Journal hope you had an amazing and safe Fourth of July weekend!