TOD - Here are some of my 4th of July memories:
1963, Bar Harbor, Maine: On vacation with my parents and we watched a fireworks display over Frenchman's Bay - all the boats showed their appreciation by blowing their horns
1976, Middletown, Ohio: The much-discussed parade in which our community theater entered a float commemorating 3 centuries of American theater: 1776, The Contrast; 1876, melodrama; 1976, The Wiz. The parade ended at the newly-completed City Building.
1996, Custer, South Dakota: DH Richard, DS Rob, and I were in the first week of our first road trip out west. We'd visited Mt. Rushmore on July 3 and went to Wind Cave National Park on the 4th.
The most unique fireworks I've ever seen were not on July 4, but during Middfest, the international festival that our community hosts the first weekend in October. In 1982, the featured country was Mexico, so the big finale to the festival was a display of Mexican fireworks, which the organizers had great difficulty getting into the country.