Our Trip to Heber

On Saturday, June 30th, our family took a quick trip north to visit the town of Heber, AZ and to participate in their 4th of July celebration. Every year they put on a fantastic celebration at the local high school complete with food, music, raffle, food, train rides, greased pig, and completed with one of the best firework shows around. They usually have their celebration the weekend before or after the 4th of July. It can be a challenge finding out when the event is to take place because the town is so small that they don't have a city hall. Many years ago when we first heard about the celebration, we had to call the local Circle K store to get details. We have tried to attend the event every year but usually we make it every other year.

We left around 3 pm. The temperature when we left Mesa was 112 degrees. Just over 2 hours later, we arrived in Heber where the temperature was a very comfortable 87. Admission to the festivities was $5 which goes to the local chamber of commerce to fund the fireworks show next year. We took chairs and blankets and found a good location on the baseball field. The fireworks show began at 9 pm so we spent the next several hours eating nachos, sub sandwiches, bbq beef sandwiches, soda, sno cones, homemade pie and ice cream, and frozen cheesecake on a stick.

We played board games, read books, slept, threw the football around and visited with the hundreds of other people in attendance. The pictures below show our kids enjoying the visit from a couple snakes which were brought by some local guys.

By 9 pm, the temperature was in the low 70's or high 60's. It was announced that the fireworks show was going to last 1 hour. However, it was closer to 35 minutes. However, the fireworks are so much closer to you then other shows we have been to and the sound echos off the canyon walls which makes the show very unique. And because you don't have the lights from a big city, the night sky is dark which really amplifies the brightness and the colors. We all had a great time and really enjoyed getting out of the heat if only for a few hours.