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Photo Credit: Roni Gendler/Advocate Staff Photographer

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Phyllis Jones volunteered to operate the water slide for 2 hours.
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Trent Resendez, 3, from El Campo, stomps around in the puddles at Brackenridge Park in Edna on the Fourth of July.
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Lauren Watkins, 4, of Ganado munches on cotton candy on the Fourth of July in Edna.
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EDNA – One patriotic woman still grows goosebumps when she hears the “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Phyllis Jones watches big balls and stars sparkle out in multiples of colors as the fireworks light up the night sky. She thinks about her husband and relatives who served in the military.

“Tears just well up in your eyes,” Phyllis said.

Her husband Fred Jones’ favorite part is listening to the oohs and ahhs of the crowd, especially all the children.

“The fireworks here are great,” he said. “For a small town, it’s a spectacular display.”

More than 7,000 people attend the Texana Outback Fireworks Extravaganza every year at the Brackenridge Plantation Park on Lake Texana, Clinton Tegeler said. This year, the 10th year, the executive director of the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce hoped to reach the 10,000 mark.

“We want to make this the Fourth of July event of choice in the area,” Tegeler said.

Tegeler watches the kids eating funnel cakes and tumbling down the blow-up waterslide. He hopes when they grow up, they’ll think of these kinds of events and about home.

He still remembers climbing on the Army tanks at the American Legion Hall when he was growing up in Jackson County.

“These events are what it means to live in a small town,” he said.

Fred, 68, described it as “middle America.” He and his wife of eight years share seven children and 14 grandchildren. The Fourth of July is all about family celebration and serves as the highlight of the summer, he said.

The day started off with an antique tractor parade through the park, which made Phyllis remember her farming heritage. She recalled driving a C-Farmall tractor and raking a blue sea of flax.

A tractor rumbles by, pulling a flatbed of cheering children and their puppies through the park.

“Yeah, this is small town American,” Phyllis said, watching the drivers show off proudly their antique farm equipment. “We don’t mind sharing it with others.”

Children sat in lawn chairs cheering on the old tractors. The kids can play safely as everyone watches out for each others’ children, Phyllis said.

There’s a certain security with living in a small town and freedom with being an American citizen, she said.

The couple volunteered for nine years of the Extravaganza – this year they manned the waterslide – and they’ve watched a community-centered event grow.

The Fourth of July is a time to celebrate America, forgetting for a day our divisions, especially during an election year she said.

“Whether you’re Democrat or Republican, we can set our choices aside and pull together to be proud to be a citizen of the U.S.A.,” Phyllis said.

Tara Bozick is a reporter for the Advocate. Contact her at 361-580-6504 or tbozick@vicad.com.