My family went to see two fireworks shows (like we do every year): the July 3 show at Glen Oak Park, and the new “Red White and Boom” show down on the riverfront.

The show at Glen Oak Park was excellent, as usual. This is actually my favorite show — it’s in a beautiful setting, the Peoria Municipal Band plays (they always put on a great show), and the fireworks display is superb. There’s a lot of variety in the types of shells that are shot off, and the pacing is perfect. I think the show lasted 20-25 minutes this year. The kids loved it, of course; my youngest (James, 2) just sat there looking up at the sky with his mouth open, clearly awed by the spectacle. This event always has that “small town” fireworks show feeling, even though there are thousands of people there and the show is way better than you’d see in an actual small town.

The show at the riverfront was also great, but for a different reason: it was big, as promised. This year, Peoria and East Peoria combined forces to produce the biggest fireworks show ever on the riverfront. It started a little early because storm clouds were starting to roll in. This show was choreographed to music and it was announced that 5500 shells were sent up. Believe me, it was big, and very impressive.

One thing I experienced this year that I never experienced before was fallout. We set up on the East Peoria side of the river (because in years past it’s been less crowded — not so this year), and the wind was blowing east, so the ash and exploded shell casings rained down on us during the show. I guess I always knew that something had to be falling back to earth, but this was the first time I saw it falling out of sky on the crowd. I had to brush myself off when it was all over.

I love fireworks, and here in Peoria we have a couple of the highest quality fireworks displays you’ll see anywhere. While I appreciate the combining of the Peoria and East Peoria shows, I hope the Park District continues to keep their show separate and on the third. It’s a great tradition, and I enjoy getting to see two shows on two different nights. Kudos to the organizers of both shows.