Fourth of July Memories by Mitch Larkin

Striped Maxi Dress (Love this similar one, too.) / Brown Sandals (Like butter! They run TTS.) / Emma’s Heart Tee / Dachshund Sunglasses / “K” Necklace / Lightweight Earrings / Emma’s Shorts / Tortoise Bracelet / Emma’s Sandals / Mitch’s Sperrys (Women’s Version Here.)

By Mitch Larkin

Mitch here!

Today is Kelly’s favorite holiday, so I’m taking over the blog so she can enjoy every minute of it.

The Fourth has it figured out as far as holidays go: Perfectly sunny summer weather, lemonade, chunks of watermelon, parades, lightning bugs, and giant explosions in the sky.

We’ll be spending the day in Ocean City, New Jersey on front porches, boardwalks and beaches. Below you’ll find my four favorite Fourth of July memories, and I hope today ranks up there with your favorites as well. Happy Fourth from the Larkin Family!

Fourth on the farm

It might surprise you to hear that I basically grew up on my grandfather’s farm in Central Illinois. And while I’m no farmer, I still dream of our idyllic family Fourth of July parties out in the cornfields. Central Illinois might not sound like much from where you’re sitting, but imagine a golden sunset hour upon a perfectly flat 10-mile horizon in all directions. Think of 30 close family members together, enjoying the heat while lighting up a cavalcade of sparklers, Russian missiles and Roman candles.

I spent my first 20 Fourth of July holidays like this, and now that I’m a bit removed from Central Illinois, I miss it so much. I can smell the sweetness of the cornfield and I can hear the buzzing of mosquitos around my ears. (Life Pro Tip: Wear jeans and socks for fireworks tonight.) I can also hear the sound of Lee Greenwood’s Proud to Be an American over my cousin’s car stereo.

The best! (What were your childhood Fourth of July celebrations like?)

Parades

Towanda, Illinois is about as small of a town as you can imagine, but on the Fourth of July, it throws the most perfect Americana extravaganza I’ve ever seen. Located on Route 66 in the middle of nowhere, Towanda’s Wikipedia page boasts a “notable person” who retired in 1970 and a spaghetti supper/street dance which admittedly sounds incredible. But the real Towanda draw is its Fourth of July parade, as I mentioned a few sentences back. I’m talkin’ snow cones, funnel cakes and marching bands. This is the kind of place where you run into your fifth grade math teacher and talk for 15 minutes. Actually, most of your old teachers are probably there.

The parade itself is awesome. To participate, one must apparently sit on an extremely loud vehicle of some kind. There are sections of riding lawnmowers, Shriners in tiny cars, giant tractors, star-spangled school groups on flatbed trucks, and, of course, emergency vehicles simultaneously blaring sirens at full tilt. Parade parishioners scramble for tossed handfuls of candy and gawk at local celebrities, which are mostly car dealers.

To capitalize on the parade crowd, a citywide flea market springs up to sell off the accumulated junk from the collective Towandan garages over the past year. A few years ago, I found an old plat map of my grandfather’s farm in that flea market and after buying it, I struck a conversation about the map with a seller–who turned out to be my grandfather’s cousin. It’s that kind of place. I’m a little bummed to be missing it today!

First night in Stuy Town

The Fourth of July falls in the middle of the summer moving season, and I’ve moved during the first week of July for most of my adult life. If you’re in the middle of a move today, I am so, so, so sorry. This too shall pass.

One of my favorite Fourth of July memories, though, involves the move into my first proper adult apartment. We loaded the U-Haul all morning and with one of my best friends, Erica, behind the wheel. We took on New York City traffic and made our way from the Upper East Side/Harlem to the East Village. Erica almost immediately crashed into a parked cop car Modest Mouse-style, and after we settled that whole mess, we finished up the move as it started to get dark outside.

I honestly had forgotten the date, but when I heard the fireworks start, I sprinted back out of the apartment. Manhattan is an island between two rivers, and luckily the fireworks were on the East River that year. One of the barges was about 100 yards from my front door, and it made for a spectacular show and “welcome” of sorts.

As a kid from central Illinois, the sheer size snd variety of the fireworks that night blew my mind. I stood there in the first few moments of adulthood–a huge smile on my face–watching the show with the rest of New York. It was a truly awesome sight.

Our first Fourth together

Fourth of July Memories by Mitch Larkin | Kelly in the City

This pic is the first Kelly and Mitch image of all time. I long for the days when cameras were all blurry like this. You know you’re getting old when the pictures of important moments in your life look all jacked up.

Kelly and I started dating in the spring, and after a few months of vetting, I was deemed worthy of an invitation to her best friend’s annual Third of July party. Where I came from, a party meant a warm case of beer in some guy’s garage, but Kelly’s friends did it right with snacks, patriotic speeches, and a private firework show.

Do I look nervous in this pic? I was terrified. Kelly’s friends are all super cool kids from Jersey, and they literally took me in the basement and grilled me about Bruce Springsteen when Kelly wasn’t looking. I’m not joking. Also, that is the strangest affectionate pose of all time. Yikes!

It was at this party I first learned of Kelly’s extraordinary affection for the Fourth of July. She adores fireworks, and doesn’t like interruptions during the show. She is a junky for that sense of togetherness inherent in the Fourth. Today, we collectively enjoy ourselves, the weather, our families, and our country… and there is an innate sense of community as everyone blows stuff up.

Thanks for spending a small part of your day with us. Happy Fourth!