{"id":26845,"date":"2024-07-04T18:50:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-04T18:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/farmington-shows-its-patriotism-at-freedom-days-fireworks-display\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T05:46:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:46:08","slug":"farmington-shows-its-patriotism-at-freedom-days-fireworks-display","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/farmington-shows-its-patriotism-at-freedom-days-fireworks-display\/","title":{"rendered":"Farmington shows its patriotism at Freedom Days fireworks display"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Fireworks
Fireworks display on Sullivan Hill is seen on Wednesday in Farmington. (Curtis Ray Benally\/Special to the Tri-City Record)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Red, white and blue spread across the city of Farmington on Wednesday night, as the annual Freedom Days firework display lit up the skies to usher in the Fourth of July festivities.<\/p>\n

Crowds gathered at churches, school parking lots, sidewalks, backyards and anywhere they could get a glance at the colorful display.<\/p>\n

Counting the number of participants would be hard because of its regional appeal, said Visit Farmington executive director Tonya Stinson.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a July third tradition,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"Members
Members of the Gishie, Wato and Clark families await the fire display near Sullivan Hill on Butler Avenue on Wednesday in Farmington. (Curtis Ray Benally\/Special to the Tri-City Record)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
The show<\/div>\n

Firing off in 1997, the Paxton family started hosting the show after moving from Oklahoma, according to firework technician Brandon Paxton.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad ended up giving the show to my older sister, Amanda, which will be there tonight,\u201d he said. \u201cShe\u2019s been the one for probably the last 10 years shooting that show, and then she handed it over to me last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year, Paxton said his family came together for a reunion.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we actually don\u2019t live in Farmington anymore, but we still make an effort to come down here to do this for everyone down here and we really do enjoy it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The show consisted of 154 shells ranging in size from 3 to 6 inches that would reach a height of 10,000 feet, according to Paxton.<\/p>\n

With a run time of 17 minutes and 50 seconds, the show itself took two days to set up.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people like that big bang,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a small shell, it\u2019s only a 3-inch (shell), but it can make a really loud noise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Putting on a firework show can be difficult with forest fires and drones taking the place of a show, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just don\u2019t get that firework sound that feeling and the lights in the sky like a firework does,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For safety, the Farmington Fire Department does a walk-through mowing spots of concern while also installing a sprinkler system, according to Paxton.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith a lot of moisture that Farmington has had for the past week, we should be pretty good tonight,\u201d he said \u201cWe do get in contact with the chief of fire and make sure we make all of our contacts and get everybody on board for the safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

The spectators<\/div>\n

Amber DeAnda and Manuel Graciano sat along College Boulevard with their children, awaiting the display that has become a tradition.<\/p>\n

Hard to miss, the family sat with red, white and blue attire and accessories.<\/p>\n

The loud and shower-like fireworks were the favorites of the family.<\/p>\n

Fourth of July festivities will continue for the family with a firework show at Navajo Dam and the Party in the Park, DeAna said.<\/p>\n

Graciano said patriotism means being yourself while also sticking up for yourself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think our community is pretty good. If we need to come together, we come together,\u201d DeAnda said.<\/p>\n

Michael Sandoval also sat with his sons along the street with an American flag posted next to him on a truck bed.<\/p>\n

Sandoval said his family has always watched the show. Other firework festivities in the region will be a part of their celebration.<\/p>\n

With family members in the military, Sandoval appreciates their service and the freedom that comes with it.<\/p>\n

Ryan McCoy walked with his daughter to purchase ice cream while wearing patriotic colors.<\/p>\n

Moving from Los Angeles to Farmington, he said the larger city setting had a hit-or-miss approach to celebrations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s what I love about this place is the fact that everyone does stuff like this,\u201d he said. \u201cBack there, it\u2019s really hard because it\u2019s such a big city.\u201d<\/p>\n

For McCoy, patriotism is knowing the fight for freedom and the saying, \u2018land of the free, home of the brave.\u2019<\/p>\n

Amber Wisley and Nick Nelson walked alongside the San Juan College Bike Park with their son and dog while waiting for the show to start.<\/p>\n

The family traveled from Albuquerque to watch the show for the first time in six years.<\/p>\n

Aside from the traffic difference, Nelson and Wisley said Farmington\u2019s small-town vibe is what sets it apart from a larger city.<\/p>\n

For Independence Day, the family opted for a day at the farm on the reservation, Nelson said.<\/p>\n

As the sun set, spectators turned up their radios to the synchronized bursts of fireworks and ushered in the festiveness of the Fourth of July.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Community event brings in regional audience <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26846,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1240,1222,155,799,28,1241],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-26845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-aztec","tag-bloomfield","tag-education","tag-farmington","tag-headlines","tag-kirtland"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26845"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26845\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79492,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26845\/revisions\/79492"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26845"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=26845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}