Elgin celebrates Independence Day
July 4th, 2008
Elgin fireworks display in 2006. Photo by James Jordan
Elgin’s July 4th celebrations starts off with a parade at 9:00 a.m. in downtown Elgin at the corner of Slade and Douglas. The parade’s grand marshall is…Tammy Duckworth! Yes, that Tammy Duckworth, who is now director of the Illinois Department of Veteran Affairs. From 11:00-4:00, a blues concert will be held at the Civic Center parking lot. All the details are on the Downtown Elgin website. Keep in mind that numerous downtown restaurants and shops will be open for business.
Gear up for the fireworks display starting at 7:00 p.m. at the Elgin Sports Complex, 709 Sports Way. That’s when the concessions, entertainment and music (World Class Noise) starts. The fireworks extravaganza starts at 9:20.
Have fun, and remember what it’s all about: the birth of freedom and democracy and a new world order paid with great sacrifice and won through great valor. Happy July 4th, and God bless America.
And remember, too, that the Founding Fathers’ revolutionary vision of ordered individual liberty founded on civic virtue had nothing to do with “peace” or “diversity.” Those great men at Philadelphia did not fight to separate America from Great Britain only to have it fall to its knees before the repellent values of Mexico, China or radical Islam.
Posted July 4th, 2008 at 9:44 pmThis had to be the worst fireworks display I have seen in my entire life.
Trouble #1) Parking: The police closed off access to the sports complex, wasting the vast majority of its parking. We had to park at the ECC and walk to the sports complex. How are the disabled supposed to reach the fireworks? We walked for about a mile and still didn’t really go far enough.
Trouble #2) The view: There was no indication where to go. We ended up with a lot of other people on a lawn facing a triple fence and a hill between us and the fireworks.
Trouble #3) The fireworks. They started a bit late, and lasted all of about 10 minutes! The fireworks were about 95% low altitude (barely cleared the hill, but not the fences). There was no artistry, just a big belch of various fireworks set off at the same time. There was no ground effects fireworks, no music, no traditional pause, then a climax. People stood around for 5-10 minutes waiting for more. Other displays seemed to be going off in other places. Since the city said the display was at the Sports Center, I must have been misled if the real display was at ECC or somewhere else.
Trouble #4) Traffic control. We were herded basically out of town (forced to go West to Randall Road despite our best efforts to return home). When we attempted to return via Lake, they closed exit ramps for McLean & State Road 31. Do they want everyone to leave town after the fireworks? They sure tried hard!!!
I will NEVER return to this fireworks display!!!
Posted July 4th, 2008 at 11:55 pmThat was one horrible fire work and very disappointing one to watch. Most of it were at ground level and there was no arial display to speak of. Most people were asking questions if that was it and wait around for more when it died sudden death.
Posted July 5th, 2008 at 7:32 amThere had to be issues with the fireworks display. I’ve never been to an organized fireworks event that only lasted 10 minutes. I’ve been scouring the papers this morning to see if there was a malfunction of some sort. People around me who had been coming to this display for many years said the show usually lasts between 45 minutes and one hour.
I too was frustrated that there was very limited parking at the sports complex, and our walk was easily over a mile, and there was no signage directing us where to go.
Similar to the other comment, the traffic took us several miles in the opposite direction of our home (going south on McLean) before we could find a road to start heading east. Why were they directing everyone out of town?? I would assume that most people that went to see the Elgin fireworks probably LIVE in Elgin. Just a thought.
I would like to find an answer concerning what happened at the display. Most popular thought was technical malfunction. I just hope nobody got hurt.
Posted July 5th, 2008 at 11:48 amI was told that the fireworks company had a computer malfunction and it shut itself down. Too bad.
Posted July 6th, 2008 at 12:50 amYep, word on the street is that there was a technical malfunction. Certainly, the city would not have planned such a dismal performance.
Posted July 6th, 2008 at 1:03 amelgin sucks Awefull street directing Awefull show, just down right Awefull!!
Posted July 6th, 2008 at 10:59 amAs to the parking problems, my wife and I arrived at the sports complex an hour early thinking we had plenty of time. However when we got into the sports complex, you could see the lots were completely full. Our line of cars was directed all the way past the ball fields, and all the way past all the soccer fields over past and behind The Larkin Center. Even though it was early, the sports complex was obviously parked to over capacity because I heard one of the officials directing traffc yell at another official say “We’re going to have to get real creative here because there are still a $hitload of cars coming”.
I can tell you the view was not any better from there than it would have been from ECC. Most of the fireworks were very low and at points, too many appeared to be going off at the same time.
When the fireworks abruptly stopped, nobody knew what to do. Everyone sat around for at least 5 minutes wantnig more, and then someone noticed that the lights had been turned back on over at the ball fields. So we left. Very disappointed.
We too could see the displays still going off in neighboring towns that problably had less money to spend than Elgin. So there must have been some type of issue, or the company that did Elgin’s display should never be used again.
Posted July 6th, 2008 at 11:02 amMe and my wife were VERY disappointed in the display this last weekend. We emailed the city, and got this repose back:
“I’m terribly sorry for the inconvenience. There were technical difficulties that lead to a truncated display. These performances are all computerized and prewired. There was a problem with the electrical component.
The City of Elgin will be discussing the problems with the company that supplied the fireworks display and will ensure something like this doesn’t happen again.”
Posted July 7th, 2008 at 12:26 pmreply back “thanks for nothing”
Posted July 7th, 2008 at 1:31 pmwhat email did you use?? we can bomb them with inquiries!!
Posted July 7th, 2008 at 1:32 pmI just saw an article that said what we saw was the finale. I was not even impressed with that for a finale. And it was only going to be 25-30 mins. That is not what I have heard for this town in the past. That is sad. I guess we will go somewhere else next year. Plus parking was a nightmare.
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=215228
Posted July 7th, 2008 at 3:22 pmThanks for posting the link, Michelle. That cleared up some things. Too bad the article didn’t mention the parking issues though and what the city plans on doing about that in the future. It looks like a lot more planning will need to go into next year’s event.
Posted July 7th, 2008 at 7:20 pmWe arrived at the Sports Complex about an hour early but ended up parking at the farthest point east, not far from Rt. 31. It’s impossible to provide parking for all the people who want to be there. The only solution I can imagine is if there is some sort of shuttle service to and from neighborhoods, or having more than one display in town. I think I’ll walk there next time.
Posted July 10th, 2008 at 9:57 pmgrincolo, where do you live that you can just walk there?
A shuttle is a good idea. Another good idea to consider is what Paula suggested: doing it in the downtown, then EVERYONE can walk there.
Posted July 12th, 2008 at 5:55 am