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This is how the Independence Day Fireworks works:
 As soon as we hear from you, between now and the end of July,
we'll send you the book of instructions and the giant Rand McNally Road Atlas,
upon which the course wends its way northward the length of North America (in odd-numbered years it's southward).
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Note: Entries for the 2020 Independence Day Fireworks closed on July 31.
Please check out our Almaniac trivia contest, coming up next, on Halloween.
Our next map rally will be the 58th St. Valentine's Day Massacre, starting on New Year's.
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Note for 2020 Independence Day Fireworks competitors:
On July 13 we mailed postcards to everybody who had entered by then.
(If we received your entry on or after July 13, we've made these changes directly to your instruction book before sending it to you.)
It's likely that these changes would not affect your answers. However, if you've already mailed in your answer sheet and would like to change an answer,
feel free to email us with any answer change that you'd like to make.
Here's the text of the postcards:
On page 7, Instr. 10: the Colorado flows eastward past Winchell.
On page 18, Instr. 9: please add: ‘then go north on U.S. 83 at A St.’.
[Why? To ensure that we reach Rodeo Rd. for Instr. 10.]
On page 23: please change Instr. 2’s ‘Perimeter Hwy.’ to ‘100’.
[Why? Perimeter Hwy. isn’t a *numbered* highway.]
On page 24: delete Instr. 11’s ‘other through’ and change ‘76’ to ‘76 or 144’.
[Why? Our roads needn’t be *other through*, and Manitoba 68 may be used.]
Thank you. We apologize for these changes; we hope you’re enjoying the trip!
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2020 Independence Day Fireworks: Google Street View
You will have noticed that occasionally during the rally we mention a link to a Google Street View photo taken along the course.
These photos don’t affect the Fireworks course or questions in any way and may safely be ignored if you aren’t interested.
But click on any of these if you are interested in seeing what's 'really' there [and you may click on the image and then look around or travel along the road
as with any Google Street View photo].
 in Leg 1:
approaching Papantla
in Veracruz
in Leg 2:
approaching San Ygnacio
in Texas
in Leg 4:
Justiceburg
in Texas
in Leg 5:
approaching Oberlin
in Kansas
in Leg 6:
Johnstown
in Nebraska
in Leg 7:
approaching Moffit
in North Dakota
in Leg 8:
Woodlands
in Manitoba
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By following the instructions, on your porch, the kitchen table, or wherever is cooler, spending an hour or so (or however long the orange juice lasts) at a time, you travel on a continuous half-regular-St.-Valentine's-Day-Massacre-length course, from page to page in the Atlas.
Each year we explore an odd-numbered U.S. highway, in alternating years north-to-south or south-to-north.
This summer it's northbound U.S. 83, from the southern tip of Texas through Abilene, North Platte, and Pierre to North Dakota's border with Manitoba.
Then onward to Qausuittuq.
Last summer it was southbound U.S. 81, from northeastern North Dakota past Fargo, Wichita, and Oklahoma City to Fort Worth. Then onward to Tegucigalpa.
In 2018 it was northbound U.S. 231,
from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes, going from the Florida Gulf Coast through Dothan (in Alabama),
Murfreesboro (in Tennessee), Bowling Green (in Kentucky), and Klondike (in Indiana). Then northward to Qausuittuq in Canada's farthest-north reaches.
In 2017 it was southbound U.S. 65, from the upper midwest down to Louisiana,
through such marvelous metropoles as Minneapolis, Des Moines, and Tallulah. Then we continued southward to Central America.
Along the way, we ask you questions to see if you're on the correct course. Here are two instructions from the summer 2018 event, somewhere in southern Minnesota, and the question between them.
10. Go left on 10 in Blue Earth County.
Question: Do you go through Good Thunder?
11. Go east onto other road at county seat.
[The answer was No: we were traveling southbound on Minnesota 22 and Instruction 10 turned us left (to the east) at Beauford, away from the town of Good Thunder.]
And here are two instructions on last summer's event, and the question between them.
7. Go south, then go west.
Question: Do you see Harold Warp Pioneer Vil.?
8. Go east on Nebraska 4.
[The answer was Yes: Instruction 6 ended north at Fairfield, then we went through Harvard to Instruction 7 south near Trumbull, then west onto U.S. 6, then we saw Harold Warp Pioneer Vil. near Minden before reaching Nebraska 4 for Instruction 8.]
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You have until August 10 to send in your answers.
Following scoring, custom-designed awards go to the top competitors, and local champion certificates to the best of them from each state, province, and country.
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To receive a Fireworks brochure in the mail next June, in advance of the 2021 Independence Day Fireworks, just send The Old Maltese an e-mail request mentioning the Fireworks, with your street mailing address, or mail a note to us at:
Independence Day Fireworks
P.O. Box 53
La Cañada, California 91012
- - and we'll be glad to send a competition package directly to a giftee,
with gift announcement enclosed,
if you'd like to give an entry as a gift
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