The chaos built slowly last week into a crescendo of complete and utter wild partying on the peninsula. On Thursday we made sure we’d secured an extra parking space for a friend arriving at the weekend. Food shopping was completed by Friday to ensure total avoidance of the supermarkets on the Fourth.
Then we sat and waited for the crowds to descend. Fourth of July on the peninsula has become our Mardi Gras. It’s the place to be seen. The place to be arrested. The place to scam beers from people sitting on their patios.
Last year we enjoyed the mayhem. We’d never seen it before and it was a sight to behold. This year we shared the day with friends on our patio, mocking the groups of people strutting their stuff as they walked up and down the streets looking for a party that was good enough for them. There were girls trying to catch everyone’s eye with a fabulous, hardly there bikini and an attitude worthy only of Fashion Week.
Next year, I think we need to escape the chaos. We need a far more family friendly event. The peninsula might be the place to be if you’re in your early 20s and ready to party but if you have children, you tend to feel as if you’re under siege. We’re right on the edge of the party zone and ready to celebrate the Fourth with our children sat beside us watching fireworks, not protected from the chaos and drunkenness.
Apparently the local authority would like to make it a more family atmosphere and are trying hard to deter the crowds. It will take awhile for that to happen. A few years of cracking down on the endless parties before people move on and create another party hot spot.
The crowds have left and the locals are recovering. The rubbish is being swept up. The streets are being swept. The decorations taken down.
But that’s one of my favourite things about Fourth of July, it marks the start of a calmer summer. We’ll still have tourists and partygoers but they’ll be a lot mellower and they’ll come in a steady flow.
The peninsula is ours again. Next year, I think we’ll plan an early escape.
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How much will your boys love it when they are in their early 20s!? Sounds amazing fun, not surprised you might want to retreat a bit next year! x
Yes, I can see that you might not want to be in the midst of that.
I was amazed by the crowds heading to the beach on the Fourth on Long Island. I think the whole of Brooklyn and Queens had decamped! I don’t think I have ever seen so many barbecues in one place. Every single patch of grass next to the carpark was taken up!
Having spent Memorial Weekend in South Beach amongst the Hip Hoppers, I feel your pain. It’s no place for kids and plays havoc with the nerves.
I’ve always thought how fab it would be to go to the beaches of St. Petersburg to celebrate the Fourth and see the fireworks display, but then I hear tales like yours! We go to our friends’ annual party every year and have the best time just chilling and hanging out.
Oh, how my hubby and I know that area all too well (from my younger…uh-hem, much younger days
. I certainly don’t blame you for finding a more appropriate type of celebration atmosphere next year!
One day I can tell you all about my 4th of July in the “war zone” when I fell off my moped and got 2nd degree burns! Here’s to a calmer summer.
We hated that !.. we would walk down the peninsular and feel intimidated and generally had a feeling that trouble was on it’s way. We crossed over to Balboa and saw what we thought the 4th should be about. Families, proud of being American and a real passion for the 4th… not just an excuse for horrible drunken louts and half naked girls. I might be getting old maybe (but I have never liked that anyway to be honest)…
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