Party plans are being finalized and procrastinating pyrotechnicians are flocking to myriad fireworks stands. The weather couldn’t be better for those family barbecues and outdoor recreation of any kind.

And so we slide into another Fourth of July on Friday, the kickoff to Flathead’s summer season in many ways. Amid all the celebrations, though, we should be mindful that this federal holiday is Independence Day, even though we rarely refer to it by its proper name these days.

Let’s not forget the special day commemorates the adoption of America’s Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from Great Britain.

The best way to celebrate our independence, of course, is by doing all the things we already typically do on Independence Day. We fly flags; some of us march in parades with patriotism on full display. We gorge ourselves at picnics and get sunburned. We top it all off with fireworks, glorious fireworks in public displays above our lakes and on a smaller scale in the driveways or backyards of our homes.

Please be respectful of your neighbors as you set off your personal stash of fireworks. Lighting loud fireworks several days before and after Independence Day somehow diminishes the holiday and, quite frankly, it’s annoying for most of us to listen to the booming for a week straight (or into the wee hours of the morning after the Fourth of July).

Pyrotechnics aside, Independence Day is a time to unburden ourselves momentarily from the big issues pressing down on America and be mindful of how much we have to be thankful for in this country. Our freedom is priceless, an increasingly rare commodity in this world.

There are hundreds of quotes about freedom and independence from our nation’s leaders. This one by President Dwight D. Eisenhower is worthy of the day: 

“Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed — else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die.”

On this Fourth of July, let us celebrate those time-honored “unalienable rights” written for all time in our Declaration of Independence — life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.