Fourth forges ahead

Fireworks defy rain showers, and bay area crowds soak up holiday fun.

[Times photo: Fraser Hale] People watching the downtown Tampa Fourth of July fireworks Tuesday evening needed their umbrellas to shield them from the rain. These people preferred the view from the roof of the Poe parking garage.

By MIKE BRASSFIELD

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 5, 2000

In Florida, the Fourth of July means you have the freedom to go anywhere you want and worry about the weather.

For weeks, fireworks sales were banned, and some displays faced the prospect of cancellation because of a lack of rain.

Tuesday night, the tables were turned.

Tens of thousands of people descended on St. Petersburg's downtown waterfront, warily watching the bluish-gray clouds moving in from Tampa Bay.

They lined the shore with blankets, lawn chairs and tents, staking out their turf hours in advance for a 9 p.m. fireworks show over The Pier. The day was a pageant of baby strollers, bike cops, bikini tops, Bucs T-shirts and bottled water.

Distant thunder crackled. The clouds moved closer. The suspense grew.

The fireworks crew waited on pins and needles. They had just spent eight hot hours setting up the 24-minute fireworks display, swilling Gatorade as they unloaded 1,500 Chinese shells from a rental truck and buried rows of polyethylene mortars. They didn't want to do it all over again on a rain date.

"This is the best show around," said pyrotechnician Paul Markiewicz. "The finale's going to be a loud one."

Jon Koleski, 24, fueled by Coronas, performed an anti-rain dance in North Straub Park.

[Times photo: Jamie Francis] The St. Petersburg fireworks show, as seen from the Cloisters condominiums on Beach Drive, drew cheers from the crowd when the show started after threats of a rain delay. Workers had spent the day unloading 1,500 Chinese shells and burying rows of mortars.

"Rain, rain, go away," he crooned, sweating in the evening heat. "I mean it, rain. I'm dead serious here."

An hour before show time, it started to rain. Some fled, but a huge, soggy crowd toughed it out and was rewarded.

At 9:10 p.m. with a light drizzle still falling from the sky, the first shell exploded in the air. People stood in the rain and cheered.

In Tampa, the situation was similar, with rain and lightning chasing away some of those who came to Curtis Hixon Park for a fireworks show that had been salvaged at the last minute after corporate sponsors pulled out.

Living Water Church, a non-denominational church in east Tampa, stepped in to pay for the event, though for a while Tuesday it appeared the weather would ruin their efforts.

Meanwhile, at Raymond James Stadium, rain and lightning delayed a Tampa Bay Mutiny soccer game for nearly 90 minutes and at one point, a lightning strike inadvertently deployed some of the fireworks in the south end zone planned for after the game.

Earlier in the day, Independence Day events enjoyed far better weather.

Politics was the order of the day in Lutz in northern Hillsborough County, which saw huge crowds for its traditional Fourth of July parade through downtown. At least 100 people either wore or distributed campaign materials in Lutz's festivities. Campaign vehicles helped swell the parade to some 90 units, the biggest ever.

Faye Culp, a Republican running for the state Senate, rode in an open, white, Celica convertible as the sun beat down on the 11 a.m. parade.

"Hey," yelled a bystander, "turn up the A/C on that thing!"

Culp's husband Jim, who was driving, admitted he had it at three-fourths capacity already.

The election season also was in full swing in Hernando County, where residents toted lawn chairs and children to the traditional parade at High Point, which featured a line of red-white-and-blue-clad politicians in antique cars.

Others opted to pitch in at a free carwash for veterans.

[Times photo: Jamie Francis] Brian K. Evans, 14, of St. Petersburg used his large T-shirt as a cover as he sat through heavy rain at Straub Park in St. Petersburg, waiting for the Fourth of July fireworks. The city's show began after 9 p.m.

Still others marked Independence Day at a machine-gun shoot where Second Amendment defenders celebrated their right to take aim at the likes of junk cars, cement blocks and bowling pins.

At the Hernando Sportsman's Club, 200 to 300 spectators were expected for a day at the range, where about 60 marksmen paid $20 each for the chance to empty their machine guns into a line of targets set up on the 80-acre tract in the middle of the Chassahowitzka Wildlife Management Area.

"We've got to keep this stuff alive somehow," said spectator and gun enthusiast Rocky Fels of Hudson. "If they're not careful, they're going to take it all away."

The festivities began early in Citrus County: On Monday night, the Uncle Sam Jam had packed downtown Inverness as hundreds watched a patriotic program, browsed through the shops and danced in the streets. The strong turnout surprised even the planners, who created the event to replace the annual Patriotic Evening fireworks show that city officials canceled because of the drought. "Everything turned out so much greater than I anticipated," said Winston Perry of the New Inverness Olde Towne Association.

- Times staff writers Bill Coats, David Karp, Jennifer Farrell, Josh Zimmer and Bridget Hall Grumet contributed to this report.

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.