Untold tales: Nanticoke Bonfire 2017

I've really slacked off on my bloggerish duties in the past few years. In part that's the fault of having a much simpler, though far more ephemeral, "microblogging" platform in Facebook. As a result I've posted many items of interest that could have been - and, in pre-Facebook day, would have been - blog entries.

One fond memory of my childhood was the annual bonfire. It was held every Fall to correspond to the "homecoming" game, and attracted hundreds of residents of Nanticoke to an area just off the Little League field. The bonfire was a community ritual, people gathering together to watch something burn. It was primal,and savage, and fun.

I stopped going to bonfires after High School, and in the intervening years I have always managed to miss the bonfire for one reason or another. This past year I found that my schedule would allow me to watch the bonfire. The trick was to find out exactly when it was. There was no public announcement that I could see, and the various relevant websites were all vague and noncommittal. Finally I found a post about the Homecoming dance that mentioned the bonfire as a by-the-way. From that I was able to piece together a date - that day, September 21 - and a time - about an hour from when I was reading the notice. I got myself together, got my camera, and walked the few blocks to the site of the bonfire.

I was almost too late.

The bonfire was already burning as I approached, and a good crowd had gathered, with more showing up by the minute.

I seem to remember bonfires in October, with the cold Autumn air being warmed by the fire. But this was a warm night, technically the next-to-last day of Summer.

As the fire grew larger and the afternoon darkened into evening, the pagan ritual aspect of the bonfire became more prominent.

Firefighters watch the bonfire blaze.

Getting in close to the fire allowed me to play with some settings.

As the fire died down, the crowd dispersed.

I may make it a point to attend the 2018 bonfire.