Tuesday Afternoon Diversion: The Fifth of July

Justin Kaufman at WBEZ has a witty little round up the news on his blog (par for the course - he's a good writer). But he also posted a video of a private plane hovering over the near South side at sunset, capturing a view of the fireworks at U.S. Cellular Field from above.

And it's a great video Justin posted - you get a look at Chicago's fireworks that most people never get to see. But that's the thing: any jerk can rent a private plane to see the fireworks over Sox Park. If you really want to see what Chicago is like on the Fourth, you need to fly over the neighborhood where all the Chicago cops (and therefore all of the confiscated fireworks) are. And so we give you this video, a flight taking off out of Chicago, headed to St. Louis, as fireworks across out city are just beginning.

What were the fireworks like in your neighborhood?

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By Kevin Robinson in Arts & Events on July 5, 2011 3:00 PM

Comments [rss]

coloredmaps

i saw the fireworks as my plane was coming into chicago, not taking off. it was even cooler!

kdjk5467

Thank you thank you thank you for NOT putting a soundtrack on this. It was cool hearing the plane and background noise. Felt like I was really watching this. I hate how people feel the need to pick music to go over these things.

ChicagoD

I was out of town, but the neighbors said that there were several full displays ON THE BLOCK, and that the fireworks were mostly over by 2 a.m. or so. Apparently a couple of the cop families had really great fireworks . . .

bopo

Yep, I remember the Fourth down there. Puerto Rican Independence Day and Cinco de Mayo are similar, right?

Jefferson Park wasn't so bad, the family across the street deactivated their anti-aircraft battery around 10:30.

Darren Patrick Grady

The fireworks near Western Ave. in Humboldt Park were pervasive and relentless for about 2.5 hours. I guess the residents wanted to celebrate America's independence by making it sound like our nation's various wars were being fought right here at home.