News Item:
Cancelled display lights up the sky,
after everyone goes home.
The City of Philadelphia celebrated the 4th of July in its usual grand style. Nothing new there. The day started at 10am with events all around town. Historical events, commemorative events, all kinds of good stuff. The parade along the Parkway filled most of the afternoon, toward the end of which the rain started coming down. By the time Philly native Patti LaBelle took the Art Museum stage, festival goers were soaked.
The show still went on, with the vibrant Ms LaBelle at one point stepping out from under the cover of the stage overhang, stating "If you all can stand in the rain to hear me sing, I can sing out here in the rain for you". Other Philly homeboys, Darryl Hall and John Oates, followed in similar style. They and fellow band members were constantly wiping their instruments dry, but never missed a beat, and even came back out for an encore.
By the end of the concert, thunderstorms were moving in, and the decision to cancel the fireworks display was made, for the very logical reason that lightning strikes posed a safety hazard for the thousands who had stayed throughout the night. The announcement was made around 10:30pm, and folks started drifting away. Shortly after 11pm, the Parkway heard its first BOOM, and the fireworks went off without a hitch, to a very appreciative audience of 'none'. Go figure...
News Source: 6 ABC
Cartoon from Sid in the City
one point
they never said they'd reschedule, did they? i had assumed they were just canceled.
re: one point
Actually, they never said cancelled, or postponed, or anything like that - The official announcement just asked everyone to clear the Parkway for safety concerns, which left people to make their own assumptions. The tv broadcast, however, at different times used both the words cancelled and postponed. So you assumed they were cancelled, Sid assumed they were postponed, and I just assumed I was there on the wrong day :)