Holiday Bang for the Buck

Forget that trip to the Cape and get out the coupons for the economy-sized frankfurters. The recession forced Americans to spend less on everything this Fourth of July. But across the nation, communities banded together in an effort to salvage that quintessential Independence Day tradition: fireworks.

In Shippensburg, Penn., the Washington Post reports, Kip Fordney was a one-woman fundraising team, going door to door to collect the $5,300 needed to put on a fireworks show. Though times are tough in this central Pennsylvania city, many contributed what they could, including a $2,000 donation from a local Sprint store.

A Facebook page was set up to solicit donations for the $35,000 fireworks put on in Batavia, Ill., according to a local ABC affiliate. In La Jolla, Calif., one local businessman set up a web site to raise funds for his city's $27,000 display. Each locale was determined that the show must go on.

Patriotism doesn't have to mean half time show pyrotechnics and Toby Keith singalongs. Americans proved in compelling ways that the country's spirit thrives, despite these hard times, in these types of small, powerful gestures.

[via MSN]

(Photo courtesy Flickr)