July Fourth meant different things to different people

BLADEN COUNTY – The Fourth of July this year was different things to different people in Bladen County.

Uncle Sammie was blowing out 247 candles while America was walking on eggshells, wondering where the future of our country was heading.

In our small towns within our county, you could see a plethora of different activities going on during the day with picnics, barbeques, corn hole tournaments, family football games, bike riding and of course the caravans of cars loaded down with “goin’ to the beach” equipment.

In our special picture page – 11 in this issue you can see some of the sights and activities from a day that was a holiday for all Americans. It was a day when some took advantage of the Wednesday evening party into the early hours of the morning and then slept in a bit without the annoyance of an alarm clock.

Others were up early completing tasks around the house that can’t get done with a full-time job. And, man do those honey-do lists back up over the months.

With the exceptionally warm temperatures that were the branding signature of the 2024 Fourth of July, many people could be found lounging in White Lake, boating, jet skiing and mainly spending time with people that they cared deeply for.

Moving south toward Elizabethtown and down toward Bladenboro, sidewalk sales abounded and shopping and eating was the fare of the day. One sign in Elizabethtown said, “Everything in this store is on sale.”

A lot of the people who owned and worked at stores and shoppes didn’t get a chance to take their holiday as they were slaving in a kitchen or were stuck behind a register.

Whether people were tired out from their working holiday or their vacationing holiday, the entire populous came together at dusk as loud blasts began to test the atmosphere and then flares and plumes of color and light filled the sky while the crowd on the ground called out their “oohs and ahhs.”

And somewhere along the way there is the hope that American pride would not fail and faith will prevail that we have gone through adversity before and will face it again. But everything about this holiday calls us to remembrance.

Say, can you see by the dawn’s early light. What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?

Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight. O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming.

And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave… over the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Mark DeLap is a journalist, photographer and the editor and general manager of the Bladen Journal. To email him, send a message to: mdelap@bladenjournal.com