Best July 4: 1997, Logan, UT
I was there as orchestrator/editor for Jo Loesser to help the Utah Festival Opera with their production of Greenwillow. My memory is that we had the sitzprobe on July 3. The afternoon of the fourth was a huge picnic for the company at the home of the Festival's founder and star. The food was fantastic, I liked hanging out with the musicians, and it was an interesting day, since everyone who was anyone in the Mormon echelon and political scene was there as well. I'm sure many of them were supporters of the festival. It was also the end of two weeks in Logan putting a new version of Greenwillow together.
That night there was a concert/fireworks display, and I went with some of my housemates and my festival "host." Each person in the company had a host, a local volunteer, to drive them around and be helpful as possible. My host was an older widow named Lee, and she was fantastic: kind, patient, a lot of fun to hang out with. She drove the seventy or so miles to the Salt Lake City airport to pick me up and take me back to Logan on both trips.
The next day, July 5, Lee drove me back to Salt Lake City. Three days later, Jo Loesser called and told me she needed me in Logan, and I flew back. Lee met me at the airport, and I stayed another two weeks. It wasn't only a wonderful Fourth, but it was a wonderful month.