On June 7, 1776 Richard Henry Lee called for the Continental Congress of the United States to sever ties with the British. A document was needed to express the sentiments of the nascent country. Luckily for us Thomas Jefferson was was given the task of creating this important statement. The result was one of the world's greatest edicts, the Declaration of Independence. It was adopted by Congress on July 4th. And even though not all delegates were present (New York didn't vote until July 9th) and one signer, Thomas McKean, didn't actually put pen to paper until 1781, July 4th became recognized as America's Day of Independence.

quick facts :

The history of fireworks owes its birth to a twist of fate. Legend has it that a Chinese cook, working in a field kitchen, mixed charcoal, sulphur and saltpeter together. No one knows what he was trying to make, but when it was compressed into a bamboo tube, it exploded!

It wasn't until 1781 that the first official Fourth of July celebration occured in Massachusetts. Then as now the festivities included parades, picnics and fireworks, generally in that order. Patriotism is the key to a good parade. Flags and marching bands recall Williamsburg, Virginia celebrating the colonists' victory with military parades the loud "boom" of cannons.

Marco Polo brought gunpowder back to the west in the 13th century. The Europeans developed gunpowder for military use. The Italians were the first to use gunpowder for fireworks. The English were absolutely fascinated by these firey displays. So much so that William Shakespeare mentions them in his works.

Given the summer season, it seems natural that a picnic would be on the post-parade menu. But we wanted to give the 4th our own spin and have the picnic indoors. Escape the heat of the day, avoid the mosquitos, don't let your parade get rained on! The theme of this picnic was the garden. Whenever we could we used garden implements in the actual cooking and presentation. The table decoration began with a piece of material that looked like a lawn, and we covered that with the traditional red and white picnic cloth. The menu included sandwich roll-up's, apricot fried chicken, celeriac slaw, mushroom quiche and flower pot bread. But once again it was our dessert that garnered most of the priase. A delicious sundae bar. We set out a table of toppings and let everyone explore their ice cream creativity! Have a wonderful Fourth of July and God Bless America!

China is still the main producer of fireworks in the new millenium. But the style of the beautiful explosions has been strongly influenced by the buyers. Flowers have given way to flags and patriotic phrases. These day you can't even say Fourth of July without thinking of fireworks displays.