Today is the day we celebrate our Independence Day.

I haven’t been very excited about the holiday for the last few years, but when I was a kid, I *loved* July 4th. I’m a pyromaniac at heart.

My parents always found some way to get us close to a fireworks show, usually the one at Riverside Park (in Rose Park, a neighborhood on the north end of the city). Later I would see them at Liberty Park or Sugarhouse Park.

I’m convinced that fireworks, both the large-scale commercial displays and the kind that you can buy locally, are not as impressive as they were when I was younger. I’m sure part of it is perceptions changing from being a kid to being adult, but that’s not enough to explain the serious lack of oomph. I believe there are two things that have resulted in less incendiary material in Utah fireworks: safety regulations and rising material costs.

One of these years I will make a pilgrimage to our neighboring state for some “real” fireworks and see whether it is a Utah problem or a general problem.