The rains came down this afternoon, and there was even a Flash Flood Warning called for the county, but Sparks Fly In July went on, taking advantage of the slow move-out of the grey clouds from west to east and becoming the party of the two and half centuries on the grounds of Hope Municipal Airport.

At any given time, you could see kids climbing a 30-foot tower, grownups playing cornhole, kids playing in a bouncy castle or sailing down an inflatable slide, Scout Troop 5 with flags and Independence Day favors on offer, food trucks serving the Backwoods Bayou Chicken Melt, Strawberry-lemon Bubble Tea and stations serving roast summer corn.

You could hear soundchecks at first, then Daughters of the American Revolution mainstay Bonnie Raff reading the Declaration of the Independence in its entirety, complete with the line accusing King George III of “exciting domestic insurrections amongst us,” then an excursion into country, folk and gospel by the Night Hawk Band that often made me wonder whether the Grateful Dead had come calling in my hometown at last.

There was also the thundery, virtuosic, fully committed outing by Miller County Line, making a masterful debut here with its covers of tunes by the Marshall Tucker Band, Stevie Wonder, Stevie Ray Vaughan and even Prince. Singer and rhythm guitarist Andrew Miller had it all going and Dave Almond played such sinewy, singing, quicksilvery solos you wondered whether you were in Hope or at Fillmore East in ‘71.

Between sets, ten of those given numbered tickets as they drove through the airport’s gates, won hundred dollar bills. We spied them being paid next to the stage. A patriotic costume contest for youngsters and then for teens and grownups yielded four spiritedly and historically dapper winners, who had drawn admiring glances and shutterbug attention all evening long.

Finally, an awe-inspiring fusillade of gun-powdered rockets erupted into all sorts of fiery, floral settings in the clear deep blue, syncing up precisely with Ray Charles’ “America,” Aaron Tippin’s “Where the Star and Stripes and the Eagle Flies,” and lighting up faces and hearts with pride for the past and hope for the future.

The event was organized by the City of Hope and Hope Parks Commission. Traffic flow was handled splendidly by the Hope Police.