Area residents celebrate Fourth with family picnics, Freedom Fest

July 04, 2008 09:23 pm

— By Greg Grisolano
ggrisolano@joplinglobe.com
The Hasselquist family opted for homemade potato salad and fried chicken in the afternoon instead of sparklers and artillery shells in the evening.
Conflicting work schedules meant the family could not be together Friday night to watch a traditional Fourth of July fireworks display, so they met for a picnic at Turk Park in Joplin.
“When I was a little kid, we always had our church Sunday school picnic on the Fourth of July and I’ve always felt at loose ends (not having a picnic),” Janine Hasselquist said. “Nothing can really replace the church picnic; this is close.”
Janine, her husband, Roy, and children, Laura, Kevin and Alison, of Webb City, were joined at the park by family friend Matt Peek.
Peek said he planned to spend the evening shooting fireworks at his mother’s home in Duenweg.
“We’re really doing it for my grandma because she likes to see the fireworks,” he said. “I think we spent about $500 or $600 this year.”
Elsewhere in Joplin, families and friends gathered to enjoy the city’s annual Freedom Fest at Landreth Park, or congregated in back yards for barbecues, or headed to the city’s public pools to cool off.
Jerome and Leslie Willm, of Foyil, Okla., brought their daughter, Marisa, 7, to Ewert Park Aquatic Center for a swim Friday afternoon.
“We stayed here last night, and we’re going to be staying again tonight,” Leslie said, adding that the family planned to attend the Joplin fireworks display later that evening.
The Willms said they weren’t going to let high gas prices deter them from making the trip.
“We wanted to get away for a small mini-vacation,” Jerome Willm said.
“I told him I think we needed our heads examined,” Leslie Willm joked about making the trip in the family’s sport utility vehicle.
Music and fireworks brought Nancy Conrad, her sister Paula Sample, and a passel of grandchildren out to Landreth Park on Friday afternoon.
“We do this every year,” Conrad said as her grandchildren and a nephew played on a shady area on a hill overlooking the park’s bandstand. “This is about it.”
At Freedom Fest, guests were treated to free concerts from a variety of local bands, and a headlining performance by country music singer Mark Chestnutt.
“That’s who I’m here to see,” said Ed Miller, who by 5 p.m. had already pitched a tent and staked out a shaded area of the park to view the festivities.
Miller and his wife, Persilla, said they would be thinking about her father, a Vietnam veteran, when the fireworks display commenced at 9:50 p.m.
“This is what it’s about right here,” Ed Miller said. “Fireworks and good times with friends and family.”
Terri Brownell also said she’d be thinking about the veterans in her family.
“All my uncles on my dad’s side (were in the military),” she said.
Peek said he also would be thinking about his grandfather, a Navy veteran, and the dedication of soldiers who are deployed overseas.
“I don’t think we really get a full grasp of it, because we ain’t out there fighting,” he said. “If it wasn’t for that, we wouldn’t have what we stand for.”
Janine Hasselquist said the holiday made her proud to be an American.
“In spite of the fact that we have a lot of problems, we still live in the greatest country in the world, and I’m really thankful to live here,” she said.
Her son, Kevin, said he was grateful for an evening of colorful pyrotechnics.
“On a less serious note, you’ve got to appreciate the pyromaniacs for bringing us great fireworks,” he said.


One more day
Seneca’s Independence Day celebration will be held today with a parade at 10 a.m. and a fireworks show at 9:45 p.m. near Route U and Bethel Road.

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