It was the first Fourth of July since that other date which has forever taken on new meaning... September 11th. Last night as Edie and I watched the fireworks in Copper Harbor, we could hear the sounds of America the Beautiful sung by many voices throughout the record crowd, according to Sheriff Ron Lahti.

Sue Haralson captured the first scene above on the way home along the Rice Lake Road from Big Traverse. Donn de Yampert provided a favorite from Lake Linden's fireworks, a tradition for many years.

Hope it was a safe and healthy celebration where you live.

Here's one of my favorite shot from the archives. If you have the 2002 Pasty Cam Calendar, you'll recognize this for the month of July. Taken by Jonathan Hopper at last year's Copper Harbor festivities.

Ooooh....fireworks are even more spectacular in the big Keweenaw sky!!

Thanks for the picture of the fireworks. I sure miss Copper Harbors fireworks. It has been a little over a year since we moved to the Grand Canyon Last year we had fireworks along with nature's fireworks in Williams,AZ. This year all the firworks were cancelled because of the extreme fire danger here.

What a great one-two punch! First Sue reminds us why, and Donn shows us how -- terrific. We've come to expect great things from 'our' Pasty.com, and you always deliver, Charlie. Thanks from a lot of displaced watchers!

Hey Charlie : - Jonathan's shot from last year reminds me: have they set a date for the wedding? There were a few fireworks here on the Pasty Cam last November when he popped the question.

Hi Toivo. Jon and Katriina just sent out the wedding invitations this week. They will be married in Laurium on the 17th of August.

For our newer Pasty Cam-watchers who may not know Jonathan Hopper: He was the original Pasty Camist who provided most of the pictures for the first 2 years of this daily feature. He only occasionally contributes shots now, staying busy as the Systems Administrator for our sister Internet service in the Keweenaw, PastyNET. His bride, Katriina Wills, will join the population of Eagle River, at least for a while, as the couple's near term plans involve some time downstate, for Katriina to complete her medical degree.

Congrats to you Charlie, for "placing high in the over 50 pack"!!!! August will be a busy time in the Hopper household, so all of us "new pasty camists" will have to get busy and help out with even more pictures!! Good Luck Jonathon and Katrina!

how come there are so many pictures of jonathon and katrina on this website?

New Yorker,

As I mentioned above, Jonathan was the original Pasty Cammist, taking almost all of the pictures during the first 2 years. Then people like Daryl Laitila, Dan Urbanski, Steve Brimm, Charlie Eshbach and others began to send in pictures.

These days, Jonathan's shots appear only occasionally, but this daily feature he started goes on. By the way, about half of the pictures in the 2002 Pasty Cam calendar were taken by Jonathan, but I think Dan Urbanski may have the majority of the months in the 2003 calendar.

And I almost forgot, Jonathan was responsible for the original design of Pasty Central, the interactive scripts, secure shopping features, etc. (fresh out of high school back in 1996). These days Jon and Katriina are back in Eagle River after a long honeymoon, and work in various roles with PastyNET, our Keweenaw Internet service.

I spent a couple of days on the beaches of Lac La Belle, Big Traverse, and Jacobsville during the Fourth of July week. Although married on the beach at McClain in 1977 and a graduate of the "five year program" at MTU, I still cannot get up here enough. I watched the fireworks over Ripley from the deck of the Downtowner and then remembered why this place was so special. I also took a picture of this barn from the same place on the Fourth of July. From now on, I will be back. Thanks for the site.