Games, demo derby, fireworks all part of area's Fourth of July traditions

Residents celebrating America's 235th birthday in Jackson City Park on Monday and at a celebration in Cape Girardeau put on by the USA Veterans organization agree -- the holiday is all about honoring tradition.

Traditions that include time spent with family, playing games, barbecues and fireworks.

Attending Jackson's Fourth of July celebration is becoming a tradition for Crystal Shirrell of Jackson, who with her three sons, Fisher, Jacob and Parker, strolled the midway filled with a number of arts and crafts booths, two area men who were demonstrating blacksmithing and vendors eager to dish out barbecue and funnel cake.

"We're just here to have a good time," said Shirrell, whose sons were more excited about the evening's fireworks display.

It was all about the fireworks at Arena Park in Cape Girardeau, too. The display, according to numerous park visitors, is what brought them back to the celebration this year. The cost of Monday's display was around $10,000.

"The fireworks are absolutely fantastic," said Nick Blankenship, who with his wife, Wanda, operated the event's Redneck Games.

He added that the fireworks coordinator, A.M. Pyrotechnics LLC of Buffalo, Mo., puts on a show that always "keeps your eyes busy."

"He's got a unique way of blending the colors," Blankenship said.

The owner, Aaron Mayfield, designs each show, according to Shaun Hauper, who helped to set off the fireworks in Cape Girardeau on Monday. Hauper said it took A.M. Pyrotechnics crews about eight hours to set up and another two hours to tear down and clean up following the show.

"We're out here working our butts off so you can all have a good show. We love the patriotic part of it," he said. "We do this year-round, but there's just something special about the Fourth."

Although crowds at Cape Girardeau's Fourth of July celebration were smaller Saturday and Sunday, fans of Arenacross attended a competition Saturday and the John D. Hale Band jammed in front of a crowd in the grandstand Sunday.

Rodger Brown, USA Veterans commander, said about 3,500 attended the four-day holiday festivities.

Brown said he expected a larger attendance because the organization provided a diverse set of activities.

"People of this region are always asking for something to happen because there's nothing to do, and when there's something to do they don't participate and don't support it," he said. "We expected a whole lot more people from the area."

Around 2,500 people attended Monday night's fireworks display and demolition derby, one the Seiler family of Friedheim, Mo., will never forget. Matt Seiler, 34, drove a car in the derby in memory of his brother, Mike, an avid derby car builder who died in January.

Their mother, Jeanne Seiler, said both of her sons developed a love for demolition derbies as children and started building cars as teenagers. Mike Seiler, who would have been 39 this year, participated in derbies for at least 25 years.

It's a Fourth of July celebration she wouldn't have missed.

"It's a special night," Jeanne Seiler said. "It's a must anytime there's a demo derby, but tonight was definitely a must. We came to celebrate Mike."

For 18-year-old Justin Hopkins and his dad, Matt, working on their classic cars Fourth of July weekend for the show at Jackson City Park has become tradition. The pair showed a 1966 and a 1975 Chrysler Imperial, which both earned them a trophy.

About 130 cars were entered into the car show in the park that ended at 3 p.m. It's one of the biggest shows the father and son enter, they said.

"Cars are a symbol of America," Matt Hopkins said. "We're the most mobile population in the world. Cars are synonymous with the U.S."

ehevern@semissourian.com

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Pertinent address:

410 Kiwanis Drive, Cape Girardeau, MO

Jackson City Park, Jackson, MO