Thursday, June 30, 2011

Fort Worth's 4th Of July With Trinity River Floating While North Richland Hills Has No River Floating Or Alcohol


I just got an email from Elsie Hotpepper asking me if I wanted to go floating in the Trinity River with her on Monday at Fort Worth's 4th of July celebration behind La Grave Field in what some now call Trinity Uptown.

The ad for Fort Worth's 4th says, "Float the Fourth Water Activities. Be cool and have a fun, splashing good time in the river."

If this floating is taking place by La Grave Field will this be a case of floating where no man has dared float before? Is the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle supplying Inner Tubes for this float like they do for the Inner Tube Happy Hour Floats that occur on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of the summer months?

Chesapeake Energy is presenting Fort Worth's 4th of July, according to the ad. What would Fort Worth do without Chesapeake Energy?

I mistakenly did not include the NRH 4th of July among my list of D/FW 4th of July celebrations.

Chesapeake Energy, among other Barnett Shale Natural Gas Drillers is helping sponsor North Richland Hills 4th of July celebration, as you can see in the ad below.

North Richland Hills' "The Family 4th Fireworks Show" is not the type event of which the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's J.D. Granger would approve, because, according to the ad, "This is a litter-free, alcohol-free family celebration."

In addition to the NRH 4th of July ban on litter and booze, no personal fireworks or outdoor grilling will be allowed. But, there will be patriotic music playing, in sync, with the fireworks.

It seems odd to me, since the 4th of July is basically a celebration of freedom, that some of the celebrations tell you you are not free to grill a hot dog. Or drink a bottle of beer. Or set off a firecracker.

Of these two 4th of July celebrations, J.D. Granger's party on the Trinity River would appear to appeal to me more than the NRH celebration. 

But, I don't think I could possibly drink enough beer to cause my common sense to go haywire enough that I'd end up on the 4th floating in the Trinity River. No matter how strong a case Elsie Hotpepper makes to do so.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

How are the Cats sponsoring anything? They are holding on by the skin of their teeth trying not to get sucked up by the Water Board. Who the hell buys this #%@% or gets in that nasty river? They must not be from here....

CatsPaw said...

Setting off firecrackers, grilling and alcohol in a crowd like that are all liability and safety issues. I avoid large gatherings of humans like that anymore. But it seems to me that folks could still be perfectly free and happy with just watching the big boomcrackers, eating a sammich, some chips and a Coke while leaving the grilling and imbibing for a few hours.

Fort Worth's poster with its spelling/incorrect usage ("... let you're imagination decide.") and random capitalization issues makes me crazy. (Doesn't take much, I guess.) They must've used the same half-literate graphic artist as Jim Lane did on his giant postcards. Usually, the graphic artist is not the final arbiter however, so it doesn't say much for whomever was higher on the foodchain either. (Disclaimer: I have a professional interest in such things. That's why it makes me cranky.)