Experience the magic of fireworks with free local events

WINTER RACINE online editor

Every year, fireworks displays make a grand return. Join in the Independence Day celebration with these seven incredible events taking place in and around Edwardsville.

July 1 | Experience a show from the comfort of your college town with the City of Edwardsville Fireworks. This event is planned for 2-9:30 p.m. at Edwardsville American Le- gion Post #199 and is an all-day celebration. Enjoy drinks, food, vendors, music and more while you await the 8:30 p.m. display.

July 2 | Enjoy beautiful light displays over the Mississippi River with Grafton Independence Day Fireworks. This event is planned for 9-10 p.m. at Lighthouse Park on Vine Street and is the perfect way to spend your Sunday night.

July 3 | Enjoy an annual event with Fireworks Over O’Fallon. This event is planned for 8:30 p.m. near the entrance of O’Fallon Family Sports Park.

July 3 | Kick back, relax and enjoy live entertainment with the Alton Fireworks Spectacular. This event is planned for 5-10 p.m. at the Liberty Bank Alton Amphitheater on 1 Riverfront Drive. Fireworks will begin at 9:30 p.m..

July 4 | If you’re looking for a show with hands-on activities,

Family Fun Fest with Fireworks is perfect for you. This event is planned for 5-9:30 p.m. at Glazebrook Park in Godfrey. Experience a variety of activities including vendors, concessions, inflatables, bungee bounce, zip line, cow train, games, arts and crafts, a fire truck, a talented face painter and a special flag and veterans recognition ceremony. Fireworks begin at 9:15 p.m.

July 4 | Celebrate good old-fashioned American fun with Troy Fourth of July Fireworks. This event is planned for 6-10 p.m. at Tri-Township Park and will include food, drinks and live music. The fireworks display will begin at 9:15 p.m.

July 4 | If you’re looking for something quick and straight to the point, the Highland Fourth of July Celebration is the way to go. This event is planned for 8-10 p.m. at Korte Rec Center in Highland. Fireworks begin at dusk.

REVIEW: Across the Spider-Verse is what happens when you let creators have fun

to different worlds.

Editor’s Note: This review contains spoilers for the movie.

After a five-year wait following the first movie, Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse exceeded the expectations I had.

My friends and I made plans to go see this movie a couple of months in advance, so I had high expectations.

Undoubtedly, my favorite part of the movie was the animation. I’m not an artist, but I feel like you do not even have to know anything about art to see how much work went into everything.

Each character had a different art style, making each character so unique. Different animations made each character stand out when they went

In the opening scene, we see Spider-Gwen’s world, a pastel watercolor theme. Throughout the scenes we see of this world, this animation style is used for heavy queer coding in my opinion. Queer coding is often used in media to signify a character is queer without actually saying it, it can be a harmful stereotype or proper representation. In this case, it was done correctly. Above her door, we see a “Protect Trans Kids” sign, and every time she and her father are arguing, the characters are bathed in pink, white and blue which are the colors of the transgender flag.

Daniel Kaluuya’s character, Spider-Punk, is what reportedly took the longest to animate. The character hates conformity, so the animators changed his animation in every clip. He never looked the same twice.

We also see Lego animation, a reference to the directors who also directed the Lego movies. The animation was done by 14-year-old Preston Mutanga, known for his Lego stop motion. He also recently recreated the entire trailer using the same technology.

Not only was the animation thought out, but so much work went into the writing.

In the middle of the movie, Miles Morales’s family is discussing the nationality of their Spider-Man. His mom says she heard he was Puerto Rican and Miles is half-Puerto Rican. In his response, Miles said he heard Spider-Man was Dominican. Not only is this a reference to the rivalry between the two nationalities in New York, but at the end of the movie, a different version of Miles Morales who becomes the Prowler is voiced by a Dominican American actor.

Pavitr Prabhakar, Spider-Man India, was another character that was well thought-out. The directors said they brought in Indian writers just to make sure they were writing the character right. He called out several other characters for saying “chai tea” which means “tea tea” and made references to “Eat Pray Love.” whole plot could have been tied up in one movie, I’m glad they split it into two because towards the end I was starting to wonder when the movie would be over.

Even the storyline was compelling. We followed the main characters of the first Spider-Verse movie through different universes building up two different plots. An accidental villain, the Spot, made by a bagel wanting to destroy Miles Morales’ world, and a morally-gray antagonist, Miguel O’Hara, who lost his daughter and is committed to keeping the “Spider-Verse” together.

I’m not a die-hard Spider-Man fan, but it was also really interesting to see all the different Spider-Man come together and see references to the comics and movies we all grew up with.

The coolest bit of writing though was the lack of Stan Lee anywhere in the movie.

For those unfamiliar, in every Spider-Man movie, Stan Lee, the creator of Spider-Man has made an appearance. This is the only one that didn’t have a feature. I do not think it is because he passed away, but rather because the entire premise of the antagonist’s entire argument is that Miles Morales is not supposed to be Spider-Man. Stan Lee has done several interviews saying that anybody can be Spider-Man.

The movie even included a fan-made character called Sun Spider, who uses a wheelchair and is queer.

Everything about this movie makes it a must-see for everyone, not just kids. It’s up there with Asteroid City and Barbie for best movie of the summer for sure.

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DAMIAN MORRIS Multimedia Editor