Blowed that one up real good
Last night Laura and I braved the miserable 90+ degree heat and 90+% humidity to venture into Red Bank and watch the fireworks. It’s always a spectacular show. Last time I’d been was about ten years ago, but Laura had never been, and her friend Katya promised we’d have great seats.
We did.
Katya’s a member of the Monmouth Boat Club and just about half insane, so she managed to gather up chairs from all the people she invited and set them up right on the riverbank at 2 in the afternoon, then hold that ground until reinforcements started showing up around 7. She also got pizza for everyone. :-) Thanks, Katya!
The fireworks in Red Bank are done by the Grucci family, who also do the Macy’s fireworks in New York the following day. I’ve heard that they use Red Bank as their dress rehearsal for New York, but I have no idea if that’s true. All I know is that the show is spectacular. And according to their web site, it’s of the highest caliber that they perform, "world class". It looks like they’re only doing 11 world class events this year. Red Bank is one of them, and we had front row seats. It’s pretty amazing.
Usually, the only bad things about going to see the fireworks in Red Bank are 1) finding parking when you get there, and 2) getting out of town once they’re over. Red Bank is not a town blessed with abundant parking. So, following the recommendation of one of my co-workers, we cheated. We took the train from Long Branch to Red Bank. Only two stops away, but plenty of empty spots in the parking lot. :-)
If you’ve ever wondered how fireworks are created, The Discovery Channel has a nice brief explanation.
Posted at 7:35 AM