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The Best 4th of July Celebrations I’ve Ever Experienced Were in Manila and Minnesota
Nothing tops my childhood memories of the US Embassy in the Philippines or my dad’s hometown of Pease, Minnesota.
As an American child growing up in the Philippines, the 4th of July was a day second only to Christmas in excitement. Each year the US Embassy would throw open its doors to all American citizens for a massive extravaganza. There was free unlimited amounts of genuine American hotdogs, potato chips, ice cream, soda, and cotton candy. Patriotic music played and Uncle Sam walked around on stilts.
As the child of missionary parents on a tight budget, unlimited food of any type was a novelty but actual American products were not available to us at all outside of this one day.
Almost as special was my ability to blend perfectly into the crowd at this party. No one reached out to stroke my long strawberry blond hair or pinch my lily-white arms. I was totally average and unremarkable in my head-to-toe red, white and blue patriotic gear.
At the end of the evening, there were fireworks over Manila harbor before the long, sleepy ride home sticky with dripped ice cream, bits of cotton candy stuck in my hair, and a belly full of way more hot dogs than…
