It’s about that time again. If you haven’t felt the swelteringly heat of summer, Fourth of July makes the summer season official for the rest of us. This week, we’ve asked the UNF community what they enjoy most about the holiday alert.

spoiler alert: expect funny stories about fireworks

Interview and photos by Jennifer Mello.

“One time on Fourth of July, I think I was in 6th grade, my dad accidentally lit a firework, knocked it over and couldn’t get back to get it in time. So all of the sudden, the firework falls to the floor and starts shooting across the street in all different directions. We were all like “RUN” and we were all diving into bushes, hiding around cars, and running into the house. So that definitely was one of the most memorable Fourth of July’s for me.”

“We usually go to St. Augustine and just not camp out but kind of go early, grab a blanket and picnic out there and watch the fireworks. I’m from Albania so I’m European but we do celebrate the Fourth of July obviously since we do live in America, just like we celebrate the independence of Albania. We do celebrate it like we celebrate our country’s birth… From what I remember since I go visit there and I haven’t lived there for long periods of time, but it’s just a huge celebration just kind of like it is here. Fireworks, people getting together, I mean it’s pretty similar to what we do here.”

Matt- “I’m going home to the parents, I’m excited, they are going to have a nice barbecue, get the family together, and maybe have some fireworks, also have some burgers and dogs on the grill, really looking forward to it.

Sab- “Basically the same thing that he said, we would always do a barbecue, I’m from an Italian family so it’s always a lot a lot of food like we live off the amount of food we eat. So just a big barbecue, we shoot off fireworks and sparklers, hangout with the family and go into the pool.”

“Usually every year my cousin has a cookout and we go over there and the little kids usually run around with little sparklers. Then someone in the neighborhood, he literally spends like a thousand dollars a year in fireworks and kinda has this big neighborhood firework show. The food is my favorite part of the holiday. We always have good southern food like macaroni and cheese, chicken, pork, food!”

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