Last winter, my husband, daughter and I moved to a small town so my daughter could attend the school where I teach. Small town life was a change for us, and it’s had its ups and downs, but one of the best things about it is that my daughter can walk two houses down and play with her best friend.
You know you live in a small town when you get a newsletter in the mail every once in a while from the city, complete with outdated clip art from someone’s ancient word processing software. The newsletter has important dates, such as citywide garage sales, when leaf and brush pickup is, and who to call if your chickens get loose and you’re not fast enough to catch them.
This year, there was a new notice in the newsletter:
"Remember, fireworks are legal to sell within city limits, but are NOT legal to use”
“This year we WILL be issuing tickets!” it warned.
If this seems weird, it is. We live in Iowa, which historically has not allowed the sale or use of recreational fireworks by individuals. Anyone who wanted anything more exciting than a sparkler or a smoke bomb had to drive down to the Missouri border, where the tents were waiting every year to make a profit on folks ready to load up and bring home their contraband. The law stemmed from the Spencer Fire of 1931, which was started when a child allegedly dropped a lit punk or sparkler into a bin of fireworks. The resulting blaze destroyed 80 businesses. It was utterly remarkable that nobody was killed.
But in 2017, the state legislature decided to lift the ban and bring fireworks back to Iowa. The driving force, of course, was economic. Folks just couldn’t stand seeing all those hard-earned Iowa dollars going across the border to Missouri.
And let’s just say, people do love their fireworks. Our neighbors especially.
Today is June 27. This is the fifth night in a row of fireworks being set off by the parents of my daughter’s best friend and all of their various relatives and buddies who have been visiting in a steady stream leading up to the Fourth of July. I mean, I’m praying that it stops then, but who knows?
Maybe I’m a fun-hater, but I really don’t see the point of shooting off fireworks on days that are not the literal Fourth of July
They’re noisy. Every time a big one goes off, the neighborhood dogs start barking. I’ve seen other neighbors angrily closing their windows on nice evenings, being forced to run their air conditioning because they’d rather not have all the noise coming in. The biggest drama was one night when something misfired and hit another neighbor’s truck. Then we were treated to another kind of noise — my neighbors screaming at each other.
Before you ask, yes, the cops have come
I don’t know if it has something to do with the recent loss of our police chief or our town’s force merging with another town’s, but the visits have done nothing to deter the activity. Besides, if you have a huge fireworks tent in the parking lot of the grocery store, what kind of message is that sending? Of course the police aren’t really going to do anything about this.
The thing is, I really don’t know what to do. These neighbors have had my daughter over for barbecues, birthday parties, just random visits — and they have always treated her wonderfully. She is often invited to stay for supper and has spent countless hours enjoying their sandbox and backyard swingset with her friend. Since she’s an only child, this has really helped me get some necessary tasks done around the house. It’s a complete blessing.
They’re nice people! But their insistence on blowing up dangerous fireworks every night is really starting to wear on my nerves
And I know I’m not the only one.
And not only that, I can’t guarantee my child’s safety over there when they’re lighting things up. I’ve talked to her several times about not going near anything adults are lighting on fire, but considering she can’t tie her shoes yet, I’m not sure this is 100% a deterrent. Lately, once I hear the first bottle rocket go off, I’ve told her she has to come home and do chores. Then I have to come up with chores a 6-year-old can do until it’s bedtime!
I really hope all of that fireworks money miraculously saves Iowa’s economy or something, because for the average person who isn’t a fireworks fan, the reinstatement of fireworks has been nothing but a huge pain.
