Today we thought we’d share some of our July 4th traditions, photos, memories, etc. We’d love it if our readers would share some of theirs as well. Hopefully, it will finally be full summer and we can put away our fleeces and not gravitate toward the grill like it’s a fire pit.

Kate Flora: My mother loved picnics, so we always had a picnic by the lake for the 4th. Swim in the lake. Eat all the great food everyone had brought. Loll in the sun on the hillside. Prowl for late wild strawberries or early blueberries in the grass. Now we’ve reinstituted the tradition on Bailey Island, where new generations are joining us. Here are some photos.

Gathering on the dock

Jule Selbo here:  The 4th in Fargo, North Dakota for a young teen? Memories are of deep emerald green grass, soft breeze off the lake (well this was Minnesota, 45 minutes from my home in Fargo, a cabin my parents bought for basically the price of a Jimmy Choo slingback or a Christian Louboutin men’s loafer today that I actually think of more as my home than Fargo, even though it wasn’t winterized and could only be used three (if that) months a year), my dad and brothers heading across the street to play golf, the sunfish we caught off the dock already cleaned and flash-fried and eaten for breakfast, my dad and brothers heading across the street to play golf, me with a book on the dock, my sister sunbathing, my mother smoking cigarettes with the neighbor and talking about getting the hangar steaks marinated and the adding bacon to the brown beans before baking them. I became an annoying stickler early on for “real whipped cream and homemade biscuits for strawberry shortcake”, so that was on my to-do list because most others would have been fine with store-bought and Ready-Whip. Friends came over, we played croquet, and dodgeball, and swam.  I don’t remember liking the holiday at all, too many people and too many martinis for the adults. But of course, now the memory makes me feel lonely, and wishing I could get back those idyllic days and give myself permission to enjoy them.

Kait Carson: So many memories of 4th of Julys in New Jersey. The smells of popcorn (JiffyPop on the grill), grilled hot dogs and hamburgers, the scratchiness of the wool picnic blanket, and the smell and sounds of fireworks exploding across the river. We were lucky that the fireworks were the only explosions. Somewhere along the way, someone figured out sending fireworks up that close to fuel storage tanks might not be the best idea and the fireworks were moved to a high school football stadium in a nearby town. Didn’t matter, we still picnicked and barbecued, and laid out on that blanket!

Happy 250th USA.

Fourth of July 2006 Wallagrass, ME

Matt Cost: The Fourth of July, to me, is based on the notion that ALL people are created equal. That is the fundamental piece of the Declaration of Independence and the part that has held up, and will hold up, for eternity. As a former social studies teacher, delving into the creation of this historic document is so much more than the paper it is written on, and it is much more significant than the 13 colonies breaking away from England. The Fourth of July is an idea that, at the core, we are all the same. We breathe, live, and love.

John Clark: The Thomaston 4th parade was a staple when our daughters were young. Then it was back to Sennebec Hill Farm for the family picnic. Alas, times have changed and yesterday I experienced sticker shock when I passed a bin of watermelons that were $12.50 each.