Early 4th of July Celebration

Since Fourth of July falls on a Saturday this year, Friday was designated a Federal holiday. We took full advantage of this extra day off and headed to Greenfield Village for some exploring and then stayed for the Salute to America performance.
Greenfield Village offered an interesting insight into life in the late 1800s and early 1900s. We walked through a grist mill, a tin shop, a glass blowing shop, a carding shop, a weave shop to name a few. It was fascinating to see the type of machinery that were employed as America became an Industrial nation rather than a Agricultural one. Despite the industrial emphasis, there were small plots of farming to remind everyone of the need and value of growing the food we eat.

                           "When tillage begins, other arts follow. 

                             The farmers, therefore, are the founders of human civilization." Daniel Webster.

We would do well to recall this truth. 

Most inspiring was walking through the Wright Brother's garage and bicycle shop, and wonder around the many buildings associated with Thomas Edison who had an interesting goal: one significant invention every six months and one smaller one every 10 days. 

After several hours at the Village, we headed back to our car in search of some tasty dinner take out to bring back to the performance. Lukas aptly navigated Yelp to find a great Middle Eastern Restaurant where we picked up heaping platters of Shawarma and Kafta along with hummus, pita breads and fresh salads. From the supermarket across the street from the restaurant we picked up sweet mango juice and some cookies to complete the feast. We then headed back to Greenfield Village.

It was a wonderful celebration with 9000 of our 'closest' friends, which meant standing in a few lines :-) To sustain while waiting, the boys munched on pita bread in hands-free fashion.

We finally settled in on the lawn, enjoyed our dinners, snacks and juice while listening to the US Army Corp Band and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra perform. In keeping with the holiday, the theme was patriotic and heroic, and most of the pieces were familiar to our ears. The Overture of 1812 came complete with live canons, a fitting conclusion to the performance and the perfect segue to the amazing fireworks that were accompanied by DSOs playing and the finale light up the sky while a soloist from the US Army Band sang God Bless America. 

This was the perfect way to usher in our nation's 239th birthday. Tired but excited we headed back to the car, along with all our new friends and headed home. Here and there we caught more fireworks continuing our celebration almost all the way home to Sterling Heights.