FROM PAGE 1 lights were turned off,” one village resident was overheard to say, while one group of kids on the west side got impatient.

“Fireworks. Fireworks. Fireworks,” they called out, with Kenny Gerrits of the Boyd Chamber along with the Boyd-Edson-Delmar Fire Department doing the leg work from behind the ball field fence near the Fire Station. Before long, the show began!

The tree did not catch on fire—we trust that has been made clear with photos. At the same time, there were some sparks that reached (or almost reached) the ground towards the end, bringing home the reason for ordinances on ordnance: only the qualified or those with permit, need apply.

Before it was over, the night saw blue, orange, green, red, and then some, with colors determined as follows, according to the U.S. Geological Survey as usgs.gov: Barium makes for bright green Strontium burns red Copper is the blue kind Sodium yields yellow.

And so on and so forth. In the meantime, never mix pure sodium with water— it’s explosive. Use of a proper binding agent to make a salt (as in stores), can keep things safe as the chemistry reacts. Speaking of which, titanium, zirconium and magnesium alloys “make silvery white,” per the USGS. Who knew?