70 NEBRASKAland • JULY 2017
T
hroughout Nebraska people will be celebrating the Fourth of July with barbecues, family, friends
and fireworks. Front yards in many neighborhoods will be full of people in lawn chairs waiting for
darkness to take over the sky so the show of lights can begin.
While some communities have large displays put on for the entire town or city, there are always
those few that go overboard for fireworks; like kids in a candy shop with no spending limit, these
people fill the night sky with beauty. Everyone knows that one person who puts on a huge display every
year.
Last year, with my husband and camera in tow, we headed to the small town of Stapleton where D.L. Bay
goes overboard for the holiday simply for the love of shooting things off. The whole town shows up, setting
up lawn chairs and lining the streets with cars, and they wait. Next to a Quonset, music from the 1980s
signals to bystanders that the show is about to begin. As explosions, beautiful colors and bursts of sparkles
gleam in the sky, the crowd claps and screams their approval of the big show. Wherever you may be when
the fireworks fill the night sky, or who is lighting them, may you feel the same sense of pride and awe as
the residents gathered around that Quonset in Stapleton.
Julie Geiser
May 31, 2017
The Big Show