Navy Pier ruined my Fourth of July, and I’ll never forgive them for it.  

According to the Things to Do – Fireworks page, and the Navy Pier Fireworks event detail page the fireworks were supposed to start at 9:30pm. But, frantically run/walking towards Navy Pier at about 9:30, Elaine and I couldn’t help but notice droves of people heading the other direction, away from the pier. As much as we tried to convince ourselves that maybe it was the circus letting out, or that those families of good midwestern folk with “I Love the USA” American flag t-shirts, glo-necklaces and assorted Navy Pier paraphernalia didn’t much care for seeing fireworks on this particular evening, eventually we conceded that something had gone horribly wrong. A traffic cop confirmed our worst fears: that the fireworks had started at 9:15 and we hadn’t even arrived in time to see their smoke trailing off….

How does this happen?!? How does an information-savvy guy like me totally drop the ball on this one. Perhaps it’s because I don’t watch much TV and don’t listen to much commercial radio. If I had spent more time listening to JackFM would I had gotten the memo that the fireworks show was changed to 9:15? Obviously a majority of people knew the right time (though we did see some other guy and his daughter rushing to get there at 9:30).

There’s an expectation that the internet is always-on, teeming with up-to-the-minute information, but perhaps the internet is not the preferred medium of communication for the intended audience of such an event, and therefore seen as somehow less important to keep updated? It certainly wouldn’t fly if the “Jack in the Afternoon” or whatever talk shows they have on the sponsoring radio stations gave innacurate information, so how is this acceptable?

I can’t wait to send them my letter, which will read:

Dear Navy Pier Chicago -

I am just arrived to this country from my home country of Craptastistan to escape violence and oppression. My family and I look forward for months to first celebration of freedom in America, with hot dogs, ferris wheel, and of course, American fireworks. I check the web site which says that American fireworks start at 9:30 but when we arrive, much people have already left, people tell me they not sell any more hot dogs, and there are no more fireworks show. My children have been crying for days, they want to go back to our home country, and my wife left me. I am very upset with Chicago Navy Pier webmaster and at America for this tragedy.

With much anger, 

Gulab Jamun

 

No related posts.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 5th, 2008 at 12:43 am and is filed under Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.