GREENFIELD — People set up lawn chairs and picnic blankets spanning from Beacon Field to Federal Street on Friday night to watch Greenfield’s fireworks, launched from Poet’s Seat Tower.
Greenfield’s Fourth of July fireworks were on July 6 this year. Many attendees appreciated that the fireworks were on a Friday night instead of in the middle of the week.
“I think it’s actually better because we don’t have to get up and go to work tomorrow,” said Aaron Lastowski, who lives in South Deerfield. “I probably wouldn’t have come on Wednesday.”
“People do all kinds of things on the Fourth, so it’s kind of easier to go (on July 6),” said Marissa Marques from Phillipston.
“There’s always another town that has them on the Fourth,” said Dan Burke from Rowe.
Some, like David Pinkham from Greenfield, had stronger feelings.
“Personally, I think they should keep it on the date it was originally, out of respect for how it was founded,” he said.
But most of the controversy on Friday had to do with where the best place to view the fireworks would be.
“We used to go to Beacon Field,” said Barbara Hoynoski of Greenfield, who was watching the fireworks with her family on the lawn in front of Kostanski Funeral Home. “But when we sat on the lawn, the ashes came down on top of us.”
Chevy Pickup of Turners Falls was sitting in the field behind Greenfield Middle School, which was not as densely filled as Beacon Field. Pickup said that since the hospital was built, fewer people now sit in that area.
“This area used to be full,” Pickup said. “Right here is a perfect view of the fireworks but people don’t realize it.”