The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays. Not only do I like fireworks, explosives, and hanging out with friends and family, I also like it for the same reasons that Memorial Day was one of my friends’ mom’s favorite holiday: I don’t have to cook, clean, or buy presents for anyone. (The only reason my friend’s mom didn’t like the Fourth as much was because their house was on a parade route, so there were always guests.)
Dayton’s main Fourth of July celebration takes place at Riverscape Metropark on the shore of the Great Miami, at the north side of downtown. This year, it was on the third of July, the culmination of the three-day Cityfolk Festival. In years past, the celebration has been elsewhere. In the seventies and eighties, I remember going to Welcome Stadium a couple miles down the river to see fireworks, often following a performance of the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra inside University of Dayton arena.
Interestingly enough, the site of Riverscape Metropark was also the site of Dayton’s very first Fourth of July celebration, in 1809. There were a lot fewer people, as Dayton’s entire population was less than 400 at the time. There were also no fireworks – this was frontier country back then, and not many folks had the kind of money they surely cost, and animal pelts were the more common frontier currency. Instead, people sang songs, paraded around town, listened to speeches, and held artillery salutes. After a dinner hosted by one of the townspeople (cost: $ .50/person), there were wrestling matches, shooting competitions and horse racing, followed by dancing.
I’ve been to the Riverscape celebration before, but for the past few years, we’ve spent the evening with my brother and his wife, who live way out in the country. Although there are no crowds or traffic (big pluses!), it’s far from quiet. : )
Does your hometown do anything special for the Fourth, and do you go? (Or your country’s national holiday, if you’re not in the U.S.?) Do you know any of its history?
See more at the My Town Monday blog
Reference: For the Love of Dayton: Life in the Miami Valley 1796-2001, published by the Dayton Daily News, 2001.
Photo via Images on office.microsoft.com
Not too long ago, I ran across the phrase “90-minute market” – maybe it was on the Dayton Daily News website, an ad, or maybe something I was researching, I can’t remember. But I did remember what it meant, and where I’d first seen it: years ago, on a phone book cover. And 90-minute market was in reference to the fact that, whatever you’re looking for as a consumer in the Dayton area, you probably won’t have to drive more than an hour and a half to get there.
It’s true: for example, Dayton doesn’t have a zoo, but we’re within 90 minutes of two cities that do, 
Newcom Tavern was not the very first structure built when settlers first traveled up the Great Miami from Cincinnati, but it was one of the first built shortly after, when Dayton was first settled in 1796. In addition to being the new town’s hotel, tavern and meeting place, Newcom’s Tavern was also the city’s first post office, church, general store, courtroom, and jail. The proprietor, George Newcom, served as Montgomery County’s first sheriff after Ohio gained statehood in 1803. Early defendants were held in a dry well as they awaited their hearing in court, until the town built a proper jail the following year.
Newcom’s Tavern originally stood at the corner of Main and Water Street (now Monument Avenue), near the river. In 1965 it was moved to 
Flavor-wise, Marion’s is like no other. There’s not a lot of sauce. While there are plenty of toppings, they’re not piled on. It’s not spicy – even the sausage is very mild. And that’s one of the best things about Marion’s. The sausage has a really good flavor, and it’s crumbled over the entire pizza – no big chunks. Many of my out-of-town friends I’ve brought to Marion’s insisted on making it a regular stop on subsequent visits, and one friend from Cincinnati even used to get a whole, large pizza to take home for later whenever she came up here. Marion’s pizza microwaves very well and tastes great, even though the crust is no longer crisp.
