Following the signing of the Declaration of Independence, celebrations erupted across our small nation.

John Adams, writing to his wife Abigail about the document signing, told her, “I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shows, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”

The tradition has continued for over 240 years.

We loved shooting firecrackers when I was a youngster. It is a wonder that I had all my fingers by the time I entered high school. In the early 1960s, it was quite a bit easier for a pre-teenaged boy to get firecrackers. We could buy them almost anywhere. There were very few restrictions 50 years ago.

It was a simpler, less fearful time throughout our society. Maybe, because of that, our parents didn’t seem to be as anxious about us playing with the little firecrackers.

A match could be used to set off the entire pack of 100 firecrackers, but that wasn’t nearly as much fun as we had after unraveling and separating the fuses. Then we would light them individually in various creative ways. We would dig an empty soup can out of the trash and set it upside down on a firecracker.

Just enough of the fuse would be sticking out to get a match to it. We would back-off a few feet and giggle as the old Campbell’s Soup can tumbled a few feet into the air.

That would lead us to taping two or three little firecrackers together just to see how high we could get the can to flip up into the air.

More giggles and more laughs.

There were always stories floating around town about people getting hurt. Personally, I didn’t know any three-fingered kids, so we continued to have fun popping soup cans into the air, or launching little balsawood airplanes into the air with a firecracker taped to it. A few seconds later … BLAM!

The remains of the shattered toy airplane would spiral to the ground. More giggles and laughs. Maybe it’s a guy thing, but we sure enjoyed it.

Luckily, very luckily, none of us ever got hurt.

In 1969, the government outlawed some of the more powerful firecrackers we use to played with. It was a very smart thing for them to do. The M-80s and Cherry Bombs the government outlawed could easily remove a few fingers or worse.

Despite the danger, I never outgrew the thrill of making things fly into the air and go boom. I guess the old saying amongst professional pyrotechnicians is true — “Once you smell the smoke, you’re never again free.”

Twenty years later, as a member of the Wilmington Optimist Club, I had the pleasure of becoming part of their Fourth of July fireworks crew. Around 1980, the club always hired state-licensed pyrotechnicians to supervise our fireworks show. Donnie Maher, a longtime club member, would make all the arrangements.

One year, our “professionals” showed up smelling of alcohol and the “lead shooter” had his hand heavily bandaged. He was missing a finger or two.

So Donnie took over. He made the slightly drunk, injured “professionals” sit under a tree. Under Donnie’s excellent leadership we set up and shot a perfect show.

The crowd loved it. John Adams would have loved it, too.

Later that year, Donnie went to Columbus to sit for the official state exam to become a licensed pyrotechnician. The following year, I joined him. The Wilmington Optimist Club then had two state-licensed fireworks shooters. We were set. It was nice that we didn’t have to depend on three-fingered shooters we couldn’t trust.

Year after year, the Optimist Club hosted the annual Fourth of July celebration. It was great fun for the entire community and even more fun for the guys shooting the show.

One year, before the show, Joe Rozzi called Donnie and asked why we didn’t use any of their fireworks. We tried some of their shells. It was amazing. They were much better than the shells we had been buying from Pennsylvania.

Since then, even though the Optimist Club has disbanded, the Wilmington Fourth of July celebration had been a Rozzi’s Famous Fireworks show.

The Rozzi family has developed a close relationship with Wilmington. All the local shooters became contract shooters for Rozzis.

The company now hosts an annual school at the Clinton County Fairgrounds on the last Saturday of April. The school is designed to train safety personnel and people who want to become licensed shooters.

After dark the shooters school becomes a free fireworks show for the entire community.

Fireworks shows are fun, but always remember to protect your children and pets from the loud booming of fireworks. It can be frightening and harmful to young ears.

Pets can become panicked, so keep them restrained and comforted; just as you would during a thunder storm. Never allow children to play with simple, little sparklers. Those glowing, sparkling little wires burn at over 2000 degrees and can continue to burn for several minutes after the sparking stops. They are very dangerous.

Several years ago, my old knees became so untrustworthy that I decided to retire from being an active fireworks shooter. The last show that I worked on was the WEBN Riverfest fireworks in Cincinnati. Yep, I was one of those guys on the barge.

As the barge was towed upstream toward Cincinnati, Joe Rozzi yelled for everyone to come to the front of the tugboat to enjoy the cheers from the many thousands of people on both banks of the Ohio River.

Joe shouted, “Now you know what it’s like to be a rock star!” Realizing that experience was as good as it gets, I retired after that fireworks show. It was the best!

Hopefully, everyone had an enjoyable, safe July Fourth holiday. At all times, whenever a fireworks show starts, take care of your children and pets. Always, always leave the fireworks to the professionals.

John Adams would be proud of our Independence Day celebration, with illuminations from one end of this continent to the other.

I am proud that Wilmington has continued their annual celebration. God Bless America.

Randy Riley is President of Council of Wilmington.