June 17 - The skyline swelled with inflatable castles and slides, and lines twisted out of hot dog and waffle booths.

The skyline swelled with inflatable castles and slides, and lines twisted out of hot dog and waffle booths.

As a foreigner covering June 17th, I came with the intent of truly finding the holiday. What was its core? Where did its spirit lie? With hot dog in hand, I set off on my hunt, which soon degenerated into aimless wandering. I drifted from sight to sight, happening upon a juggler from Canada, four men pulling a cement mixer down the street and a performance by an Arabian dance company. While feeding the ducks with the bun from a second hot dog, I decided I couldn’t be there yet. There had to be more to the 17th of June than disinterested browsing.

It wasn’t until I reached the far end of the lake when I found it. The skyline swelled with inflatable castles and slides, and lines twisted out of hot dog and waffle booths. I came across clowns, puppet shows, mini golf, acrobats, and throngs of children and parents. Bam! Children. What could be a finer way to spend an afternoon, than with your parents, getting delicious treats and glimpsing fantastic spectacles on a tour of paradise? How poignant that a patriotic anniversary of a nation’s independence, would come to celebrate innocence! I’d found the holiday at last – now if only I were 15 years younger.