The annual fireworks display, sponsored the the Perry Area Chamber of Commerce, delighted a large crowd gathered in Pattee Park and throughout the area with a good vantage point for the show.
The flash and bang of the Fourth of July was hardly limited to the city’s official celebration, as firecrackers, smoke bombs, bottle rockets, whizzers, streamers, fountains and a wide array of aerial pyrotechnics were set off throughout the city leading up to the public show, and especially afterward. Explosions could be heard and aerial demonstrations seen in every section of Perry for nearly an hour after the conclusion of the Pattee Park display, which ended at approximately 10:25 p.m.
This was the first year for the legal sale of fireworks in Iowa, with cities free to set their own guidelines or to prohibit the use of fireworks altogether. Radio traffic in the evenings leading up to Tuesday indicated Perry police were, at times, receiving numerous calls and complaints.
The fireworks show capped a long day of celebrations, which began with what organizers said was, by number of entries, one of the larger Independence Day parades in recent years, with veteran parade riders pleased to see a noticeably larger than normal number of watchers and well-wishers scattered along the route.
Activities, including water fights for children (and for some still young at heart) were held throughout the day at Pattee Park, with Perry Fine Arts and the First United Methodist Church hosting their traditional 2 p.m. concert and ice cream social. Vendors of food, beverages and other items were on hand in the park and were seen to be doing a brisk business.
