The Great Family Picnic and Fireworks event that had been delayed by Arthur was scheduled to start at 5:00pm. We gathered up our folding chairs and headed over to the park to listen to the music. We were entertained first by a Jazz/Blues band that played old time jazz tunes and New Orleans funeral dirges. When they finished, the headliners began at the main band shell. They were a group of 8 with a brass section and multiple vocalists who performed ‘the music of our youth’: Boz Scaggs; Earth, Wind & Fire; The Commodores; etc. as well as contemporary tunes. They had us tapping our toes, bobbing our heads, and singing along in time with the tunes. Just like the Beaches Jazz Festival, it seems there is always a ‘performer’. One oddly dressed woman solo danced her way to the center front of the stage engaged in what could only be described as an interpretative style of dance, (more I suspect to the music in her head than what was being preformed) to the amusement of the crowd. I guess there’s one in every crowd!
When the group paused for a break at 8:00pm, we decided we had better head back to the boat and grab some dinner if we were going to eat before the fireworks at 9:30pm. We were sad to miss the second half of their show but back at the boat it appeared we would have virtually a front row seat as the tug boat positioned the barge bearing the fireworks display. We sat on the bow sipping a beverage and enjoying the display. It’s not every day that you get fireworks two nights in a row!