Reminiscing on a Hallmark Fourth of July

As a reporter, holidays are often synonymous with stress, overplanning, and a need to clone yourself because you can’t attend multiple events at once. 

The Fourth of July is no exception, but here is a secret, it is my favorite holiday to cover. 

This time two years ago, I was on an island in the middle of Lake Michigan working as the only full-time reporter for the Washington Island Observer.

The Island is a special place because it is made up of about 700 people who live there year round. The only way to access the Island is by ferry or plane. 

It’s secluded nature means that it is home to a very tight knit community. It was there that I experienced my very first “Hallmark Fourth of July.” 

I call it a “Hallmark Fourth of July” because I am a sucker for the sweet, sappy Hallmark movies where the small town farmer convinces the big city girl to reconnect with her roots. 

While there was absolutely no love story, at least for me, on the Island, that warm, fuzzy feeling that you get at the end of a Hallmark movie is the only way I could describe my experience of the Island’s Fourth of July festivities. 

My coverage began at 4:30 that morning. 

I stopped in the office, checked my email and headed over to the Washington Island Fire Department where I spent hours photographing the department’s annual “Fill the Boot” fundraiser. 

Each year, the fire department takes a pair of fireman’s boots and sets them out front during a pancake breakfast to raise money for the department. I took almost 1,000 photos of the firefighters cooking pancakes and sausage as well as the community who began gathering as early as 6 a.m. to enjoy the feast.  

My day, although it had started early, was packed with events needing to be covered. I took photos and wrote stories about the events at the nature museum, the local farm museum, bloggers who had travelled to the Island specifically for the holiday, and more. 

It is a well known tradition that about dusk on the Island on the Fourth of July, everyone gathers on main street to watch the parade. 

It is not a normal parade with big floats or cars. It doesn’t feature a pageant queen of any kind or popular figure in the community. 

The parade is simple. The youth on the Island spend the day decorating their bikes, scooters, or even just preparing fun costumes for themselves. That evening they walk or ride down mainstreet forming the parade which ends at the baseball field, an integral spot to Island life. The baseball field is where the Islanders baseball team plays every other Sunday during the summer. Hundreds of community members attend those games. 

Just like on Sundays, the community gathered at the field on the Fourth of July. 

When the parade reached the field, all of the children lined up on the first base line where the members of the American Legion gave each child $1. 

You would have thought the children were receiving a golden ticket to Willy Wonka’s^® Chocolate Factory. 

As soon as they had their dollars, the line at the small concession stand grew exponentially. I don’t believe it was a coincidence that most of the treats cost $1. 

After the children had retrieved their goodies, parents would gather them up and as a community they waited for the show to begin. 

At dark, the first fireworks lit up the sky. The fire department sets off the community display each year.

Part of the good nature of the Island however lies in its rivalries. 

While the fire department sets off the town’s display, a community member who owns property just behind the field sets off their own set of fireworks. 

Community members had joked about who would have the best display, but I didn’t understand until the fuses had been lit. 

Imagine the fireworks Corbin sets off at the Arena and then just behind it, the fireworks set off at the Kentucky Splash Waterpark. It was honestly sensory overload at times. 

Boom, boom, boom. The community sat enamored by the displays which ended about an hour after they began. 

It was one of the most amazing days of my journalism career thus far. To experience a Hallmark Fourth of July was incredible. 

One year later, all of the fireworks were canceled. I was back home, but had no fireworks displays to attend. No pancake breakfast to cover. Nothing. 

I was so looking forward to finally getting to cover the holiday once again this year, but alas, I have been stuck at home for the past week in quarantine. 

While I couldn’t cover events as I normally would, my family sat on our front porch watching the fireworks our neighbors set off. 

While it may not have had the fanfare of the Island’s Fourth of July, it still had all the makings of a Hallmark Fourth of July.