Fourth of July celebration brings community together

Elaina Crutchdield and her cousin, Greyson Kee, watch the fireworks from near the railroad depot in downtown Poplar Bluff.

DAR/Paul Davis

Gathered in camp chairs and truck beds, standing on sidewalks or parked in business lots, on July 4th hundreds of area residents turned their eyes to the Poplar Bluff fireworks display.

Most came to the downtown area to watch the shower of lights above Ray Clinton Park and the Black River.

For a brief 20 minutes, there were no Democrats or Republicans, no liberals or conservatives. There was just that odd sense of awe that grips young and old as the sun sets on Independence Day.

Maybe more so than on any other holiday, there is harmony for that brief 20 minutes. We’re thankful amongst our own families in November, and settle in with friends and relatives to celebrate our faith and blessings in December, but in July, we commemorate as a community everything that our nation has stood for and those who have sacrificed for it.

That sense of common purpose can sometimes feel as fleeting today as the smoke that settles as we gather up our belongings after the show and head off in our separate directions.

Even if it is fleeting, we’re thankful to Downtown Poplar Bluff, Briggs & Stratton, Mid-Continent Steel & Wire and all of the sponsors who stepped up this year and every year to provide these moments of unity.

We could certainly use more of them.