On Monday, July 4, Americans celebrated our 246th Independence Day.

Founding Father John Adams suggested our Independence Day would “be celebrated with pomp and parade, bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other,” and fireworks deto­nated above Verde Valley Fairgrounds a few hours after the conclusion of the city of Cottonwood’s free community kids event from 4 and 6 p.m.

In the Sedona area where fireworks launched even by train professionals and overseen by the Sedona Fire District would be a political no-go due to the fire risk, the city of Sedona gets creative with Wet Fest at the Sedona Community Pool.

My wife took our oldest daughter while I stayed home with our two 3-month-old twins who would be too much to handle in or near a pool and likely would not have enjoyed the heat baking in a stroller near the pool.

Our eldest daughter had a ball. The event was a packed with several hundred residents and visitors enjoying themselves at the pool when my wife and daughter were there, which was more than two hours.

While my daughter didn’t like to go in any of the wet bouncy slides and the big permanent pool slide was — in her 4-year-old’s words, “no, no, no, too scary” — they spent nearly the entire time in the water. She did swim on her own for the first time in her life and I’m told she swims like a duck.

We would like congratulate the Sedona Parks & Recreation Department for putting on such a popular event.

On the Fourth of July, there’s nothing like several hundred Sedona residents and visitors enjoying a fun and free summertime activity at a government facility built and paid for by tax collections and open to all that can better articulate the true purpose of small-town government.

If one wants an overwrought and belabored meta­phor for how local government benefits the people it serves, well, a silly toddler splashing about in a public pool for hours on a holiday is it.

With all the gripes Sedona residents may have with City Code, zoning regulations, police enforce­ment of parking, speeding or noise ordinances or the traffic trouble taxpaying tourists transport to our town, one cannot overlook the joy of watching a 4-year-old explain how much fun she had at the pool with her mommy and “soooo many kids” who were having as much fun as she was.

One day, she’ll conquer the big slide.

We know how parents and grandparents look forward to our newspaper to see the events the Sedona Parks & Recreation Department puts on for both adults and kids, like the Adult Summer Softball League, Red Dirt Concerts, Wet Fest and the Summer Cinema Series back in June.

My eldest daughter enjoyed seeing “Encanto” on the big screen and, although she spent two-thirds of the movie running back and forth on the grass at Posse Grounds, she still fondly remembers watching the film and even mentioned it yesterday. We hope the department has more events in store as this hot summer rolls on.

While we adults lament our stark political divi­sions both locally and nationally, our children, for the most part, don’t know nor case about the nonsense we obsess over. They see what’s before them without over-thinking the motivations or second-guessing the whys and whats of things.

My daughter loves Sedona and I surmise that her brother and sister will too, in part because they have no other point of reference. She is building her memories of childhood here and equating all the fun of her youth with this place, be it our house, Tlaquepaque, local shops, Oak Creek, Uptown, or her favorite place in all of Sedona: Sunset Park and its Splash Pad.

While her mother and I can compare here to other places we’ve lived, Sedona is her baseline. Here is the house I lived in before I met her mother, where she first came home from the hospital, which she has since conquered as a playground, where she took her first steps, where she first met her brother and sister and introduced them to all Sedona is. And a major part of that “is” is what the Sedona Parks & Recreation Department offers its youngest residents at permanent parks and one-day events.

We parents say “thanks.”

Christopher Fox Graham

Managing Editor