Independence Day celebrations are already long past, but as I reminisce on our first 4th of July celebration in Silicon Valley, I am still impressed with the magnitude of celebrations at Santa Clara Central Park. This year’s Independence Day celebrations at Santa Clara Central Park included a live band playing American pop classics and several local food trucks offering food for purchase at 5:00 pm. The night ended with a 30 minute finale of uninterrupted fireworks beginning at 9:30 pm.

Although Edmonton, AB, Canada (population of 818,000) and the Greater Vancouver Area, BC, Canada (2.5 million) have much larger populations than the city of Santa Clara (120,000), our equivalent national holiday “Canada Day” (on July 1st) celebrations are smaller in scale. Firework shows are roughly 15 minutes long. A yearly short and sweet birthday commemoration to Canada.

The annual Vancouver summer event Celebration of Light (previously known as the Symphony of Fire) sometimes gains a larger turnout than Canada Day celebrations. Perhaps it is because both annual “fireworks” events are held in July, with Canada Day celebrating on July 1st and the Celebration of Light spanning the last week of July until the first week of August (it runs from July 27th to August 3rd, 2013 this year), and the latter Celebration of Light also features elaborate fireworks launching synchronous to a musical score?

Thanks for a nice 1st Independence Day celebration!