Ka-Boom! The tercentennial fireworks were fabulous. Everyone was enthralled –– and also relieved –– especially after those two false starts at the beginning raised a tiny doubt about whether this was it or what. Then the real show began, and we all settled into a half hour of ooohing and ahhhing at the gorgeous colors and the fanciful shapes that were formed in midair by exploding shells.

I noted a butterfly, a heart, a star, and several concentric rings, a blob that might have been Homer Simpson’s head, but alas, no cat. Maybe in 2105.

The loud booms and resounding echoes were almost more dramatic than the visual display. One little child at the middle school field was heard repeatedly telling its parent, “I want to go home now.” For the rest of us, just sitting out there together waiting for twilight to darken and the show to start was a treat. A few stars came out, and children ran around waving sparklers and flashlights. People brought lawn chairs and blankets and there was the faint smell of bug spray but no bugs. No rain either, but the ground was damp because our blankets felt wet when we folded them to go home.

You can hardly blame First Selectman Herb Rosenthal if he starts to get a little overconfident about his popularity. Last month he learned that he would have no opponent in this year’s local election. And Saturday, August 6, the town had its huge party at Fairfield Hills — fireworks and all. It just happened to be Herb’s birthday. I can’t help but believe that there must have been a few moments during the day when Herb may have privately fantasized that the town has so appreciative of his exalted leadership that the great celebration was for him.

I wonder if anyone saw the fireworks from the top of the Holcombe Hill preserve? At 832 feet, the view would have been spectacular. You might want to mark your calendars now for the next Newtown Forest Association hike on Holcombe Hill set for Saturday, August 20. The guided walk will take off at one half hour before sunset from the parking lot off 55 Great Hill Road, and it is designated “easy” since it will follow the mowed trails that circumvent the hilltop. Hopefully, the only fireworks will be the stars coming out and the Full Sturgeon Moon rising in the east. For those who want to bring telescopes and set them up on the hilltop later after dark, Mars is doubling in brightness this month.

Tyler and Sarah Coleman were very enterprising children last weekend. The two grandchildren of Tercentennial Bocce Tournament organizer Rosemary Zanfini, Tyler and Sarah, set up a lemonade stand at The Pleasance during Saturday morning’s competition. During the four hours that the competition ran, Tyler and Sarah sold cold glasses of lemonade and bottles of water to players and spectators alike. When the games were over and the youngsters took down their table, their haul came to $16. Tyler (who competed, by the way, and was a member of the championship team) and Sarah decided to donate that money to the Labor Day Parade Committee.

Dan Coffman, who has been hired as the new choir director at Newtown Congregational Church, will host a recital of some of his horn students at the church this weekend. The public is welcome to attend the recital, which will take place at 2 pm on Saturday, August 12, free of charge. (NCC members should note that the date of this program was printed incorrectly in the church bulletin last weekend.)

Newtown Choral Society has openings in all sections (soprano, alto, tenor, and bass) as it begins rehearsals for December performance of Benjamin Britten’s “Ceremony of Carols” and other pieces. The group is looking for persons who have a love of singing and a willingness to learn. Rehearsals are held on Wednesday evenings under the direction of Mary Andreotta. Call 426-3769 for more information.

Peggy Jepsen Gross said she had her faith in Newtown reaffirmed last weekend. She arose on Sunday morning to discover that sometime during the night, after the fireworks, someone had taken part of the garden sculpture created by her son, Michael Jepsen, that was on display in the garden next to her house on the Ram Pasture. “There were five lava balls, but the top one — the only one you could lift — was missing,” she said. “Nothing like this had ever happened before to me, and I’ve had a lot of Michael’s sculpture on display there.” Michael arrived a little later to take his mother to a flea market. When they returned, the missing lava ball was back, lying on the lawn next to the garden. “All I could imagine was that someone really has their child in check,” she said. “When the teenager came home with the lava ball, the mother probably said ‘you take that right back where it came from!’”

Please know that anything you carry away from this column does not have to be returned. I’ll be here next week with a whole new inventory of community tales to tell, so be sure to…

Read me again.