07.04.2025: Manlius Celebrates July 4th

Manlius celebrated the Fourth in grand style, and with all the traditional trappings. The revelry began at 4 PM, with the traditional parade. The crowd starting building well before the parade. People staked their claims to prime curbside real estate with blankets and folding chairs. Parking lots just off filled early on. Some even made use of their tailgates as seating, or even loading chairs into the beds of their trucks in order to get a better vantage over the crowd to come.

The parade that followed was replete with classic cars, glad-handing politicians, firetrucks, bands, demonstrations of skill, abundant thrown candy, and waving flags and red, white and blue as far as the eye could see. There was a mime, pipe bands, bicyclists performing wheelies and even martial arts students breaking boards. Both major parties were represented in the parade, and surprisingly enough given the current tenor of politics, the crowd greeted both pleasantly.

Between the parade and the fireworks to follow, the crowds enjoyed live music from the bandshell, food trucks, and of course, it wouldn't be summer in Manlius without frozen treats from Sno Top. Though lines were long, the moved swiftly. Prices ranged from the very affordable such as at Sno Top, to splurges, such as the twenty-plus dollar lobster rolls from Bold Coast Lobster Co., whose line seemingly never diminished throughout the night.

If tariffs impacted the fireworks display, it was well hidden. The show began just after dark at approximately 9:30 PM, and seemed well received by the large waiting crowd. It covered a majority of the open grassy areas around the Manlius just as the snow will in all too few months time. The upturned eyes were treated to traditional airbursts, crackling shells, and even bursts that took recognizable shapes like smiley faces and stars. One that seemed to particularly please the crowd bust into long strings of large red, white, and blue lanterns that seemed to hang in the sky, falling ever so slowly, which was greeted with scattered cheers and applause. The show was a fitting extravaganza to close out a day celebrating the birth of the nation and hopefully a sign of hope that the country may someday heal the divisions currently dominating the headlines.

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