By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Bowling Green kicked off the Independence Day holiday weekend in grand style Wednesday night with rousing band music and illuminations that lit the sky.
Thom Headley thanked those in attendance for coming out despite the questionable weather forecast. The rain held off, though, the forecast prompted a little earlier than usual start to the fireworks display.
The concert by the Bowling Green Area Community Bands started promptly at 8 p.m. with “The Star Spangled Banner.” The bands then settled into a circus-themed set of music. That started with the jazz unit, BiG Band BG directed by William Lake, playing three blues-based jazz standards.
Then the concert band took over with a colorful collection of music celebrating the Big Top, including tunes used by Cirque de Soleil. It closed as it always does on this occasion with John Philip Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever.”
After the hour-long concert, the audience reoriented their chairs toward the northeast, set their gaze on the cloudy skies, and waited for the first boom followed by a burst of color.
For about 30 minutes the sky above the Bowling Green State University athletic fields was filled with bursts of color while the air resonated with booms punctuated by the occasional exclamation from the viewers.
After which the crowd packed up baskets, blankets and folding chairs and headed home, the rest of the holiday weekend before them.
