Many who came early to Night in the Country while there was full daylight were telling each other to check out the view.

A motorized parasail was circling above the Aug. 18 celebration.

At 6:30 p.m. the first bang could be heard as Celebration Fireworks continued preparing for the extravaganza that would end the annual event at 10 p.m.

Patrick Duncan added his 1967 Volkswagen dune buggy to the field of antique and classic cars.

He owns a couple Mustangs but the buggy was ready after two years of work and he wanted to show it off.

Duncan started working with cars at age 16. He said the Volkswagen is street legal but is not used regularly because it does not have a roof.

His wife, Elizabeth, also enjoys showing the cars.

Although the weather was ideal, several people mentioned the Friday night storm that knocked down some of the tents set up that day.

Steel Creek band was the reason for a family from Alburtis to attend Night in the Country. They were enjoying the food during a band break.

Wiggle the cow, from Lynnacres, quickly fulfilled her respnsibility of choosing the cow flop bingo winner.

The fireworks were prepared in three layers depending on their size. The first layer was at the rear of the soccer field.

The mid-sized ones were near the Lions Club pavilion and the largest were set up across the creek.

Volunteer firefighters with the Goodwill Fire Company, Germansville, watched as the MedEvac helicopter landed.

Their watchful eyes also meant a safe takeoff after dark - safe for the helicopter and the people on the ground.

As the helicopter came in for a landing, people gathered at a roped off path till the rotors stopped turning.

The children entered in the front and exited from the rear where stretchers are removed

Eric Bubbenmoyer, a flight nurse, said no one should pull on the various items hanging down inside the helicopter as they are expensive to replace.

Many children touring the helicoptor walked back to their parents with his autograph on their hands or arms.

The earliest fireworks heard were merely a single bang for testing, but they left behind small clouds of gray smoke that moved across the blackness of the sky.

And then the fireworks began in earnest.

Every time the sky darkened there were cheers for the fireworks already extinguished and in anticipation of those to come.