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4th of July

Celebrating America’s Independence Day in my hometown of Sioux Falls, South Dakota

It is July 4, 2021. This morning after church, I drive to Falls Park to listen to the Sioux Falls Municipal Band play their thundering, rousing brand of red, white, and blue patriotic music of the USA.

The band’s 102 year legacy continues with a high energy, high voltage salute from the people of our town to the United States of America. The band plays magnificently and young voices sing beautifully in the shade of a wide grove of very large, old oak trees near the Falls of the Big Sioux River.

More than a few times, I feel wet tears of the most admiring joy well up in my eyes, just listening to them.

The band’s final song is a booming, galloping, rollicking version of the Stars and Stripes Forever. Part of that song is the spirited, bouncy fight song of my high school, where I broke two toes on my right foot, and slightly dislocated my left shoulder playing football. What a great year!

Moving to another wide shady grove of big trees, I enjoy the music of “Hogan’s Heroes,” a three man band of local older guys who play the classic rock music of the well remembered, dearly cherished adventures of my younger years in Sioux Falls.

Their music is accompanied by a steady bantering of friendly stories about each other, and some really funny jokes that keep the crowd laughing and grinning throughout their performance.

Some of the older people there, the ones with that leathery, weathered look of years of hard work on the farm, emphatically remind me of the spirit of this special place on the Big Sioux River of South Dakota.

A truly magnificent older lady with silver gray hair, smiles at me with her amazing, unforgettable bright emerald green eyes. Yes, her amazing, unforgettable bright emerald green eyes “smile” at me. In high school and college, she must have been a truly spectacular, beautiful young woman with long blond hair and those amazing, unforgettable bright emerald green eyes.

After “Hogan’s Heroes” plays their final song, a solemn, reverent rendition of God Bless America, the people break up, and make their way to other venues. I walk the long path around the falls.

The Big Sioux River is low this summer, and the waterfalls are diminished in their power, because of the lack of rain so far this year.

Pools of calm water between the higher and lower levels of the falls provide perfect places for flotillas of ducks to splash and motor about quietly on the smooth water.

On the big river itself, families of ducks and Canada Geese pass in formation leisurely through each other, gliding with complete serenity on the glassy water. Calmly, they make their way north and south on the river, passing under bridges and along the tree lined riverbank within the city.

Tonight is the big fireworks show at the W. H. Lyon Minnehaha County Fairgrounds in Sioux Falls.

The name Minnehaha is derived from the Lakota word Mnihaha, meaning “rapid water” or “waterfall,” sometimes translated incorrectly as “laughing water.”

Anyway, the gates open at 7 pm. The Sioux Falls Municipal Band plays at 8, and the fireworks will light up the night sky at 10. I’ll be there, wishing you could be with me. Really.

Blessings and strength and honor to the United States of America.