On 4th of July, we should be celebrating!

Let’s get traditional. The Fourth of July is the quintessential American holiday, as well it should be since it celebrates our independence and the birth of our nation.

This year, we got a three-day weekend so folks are spacing out the celebrations, many of which started last night.

As usual, the Fourth has everything we could want – starting with parades in the morning and finishing off with fireworks at night. In between, many of us will eat barbecued beast (or beets, if you’re vegetarian), go play on the water (safely, we hope!), play games (baseball, of course, maybe some soccer, too, in honor of the U.S. women appearing in the World Cup championship on Sunday) or listen to bands of every imaginable genre. As usual, there’s so much to do that we cannot even begin to list it all here.

Perhaps the best thing about the holiday is that we can enjoy it virtually any way we please (the essence of independence) with very little, if any, attendant guilt. It’s not like most other holidays, when we are asked to consider the contribution of a great American or spiritual figure or to remember the sacrifices of those who have gone before. Hopefully, we all provide due respect on the days set aside for those purposes.

But not today. Today’s a day for fun. And there are so many ways to have it.

Start with a parade. There’s hardly a city in the region not having one (though some couldn’t wait and started yesterday) – Atwater (10 a.m.), Gustine (10:30 a.m.), Turlock (10 a.m.), Manteca (10 a.m.), to name a few.

But Modesto has one of the oldest, having started in 1874, making this its 141st edition. It’s also one of the biggest with more than 100 entries, ranging from eight different components of the E Clampus Vitus entry, to virtually all of our legislators and candidates for office, to the mayor’s top teens. Yes, there will be horses and some mighty horsepower; bands and dance teams; police officers, firefighters and many more. A parade this big has to start early. If you’re not sitting on a curb by 9:15 a.m., you’ll be craning your neck to see the passing pageantry.

The best way to enjoy fireworks is by letting the professionals do the work. No mess to clean up, no fire danger, no frightened animals. There are several shows from which to choose – one of the best at California State University, Stanislaus, at dusk. The booms will punctuate the music. Ripon will have its fireworks show at Mistlin Park, also at dusk, while there will be more at John Thurman Field after the Nuts game. If you’re in the foothills, you can see fireworks over Don Pedro Reservoir. And if you haven’t gotten enough (and who ever does?), then there will be more fireworks over the water at Woodward Reservoir, starting at 9:30 p.m. Sunday.

It’s a day to celebrate our independence, our freedom, our families and our future. It’s a great day to be an American.

This story was originally published July 4, 2015 at 12:19 AM with the headline "On 4th of July, we should be celebrating!."