Chapter One…W.W. Bill Bailey
Note:
Our blog will feature the colorful history of the Duck Creek Fireworks Show as
we approach theFourth
 |
Nobody celebrated the Fourth
like "King Cracker" and
yours truly |
The
Duck Creek Fireworks Show is the absolute King of Traditions when it comes to
the annual Grand Lake celebration of our country’s independence. At the
conclusion of World War II, some of the best recognized names in this part of
the state had recognized the potential of Grand Lake and purchased lakefront
property. Names Like McMahon, Siegfried, Bendel, Welch and LaFortune to name a
few.
They
didn’t just show up and find a grand and glorious fireworks show in Duck Creek
every Fourth of July. What started as a one family fireworks show to celebrate
our country’s freedom quickly expanded into a multiple family event. Then the
Cherokee Yacht Club was constructed in Duck Creek and many of these same
families gravitated to and continued with their family fireworks celebration.
One
of the earliest accounts of the meager beginning to what has become one of the
largest fireworks displays in the nation comes courtesy of former Cherokee
Yacht Club owner Terry Frost. According to Frost, his friend Orville Cole was
the Commodore of the yacht club in 1948 and shared his memories with Frost of
those early days. Cole described the 1948 celebration as a few families
shooting off fireworks in front of the club and recalls a water skier making a
couple of passes up Duck Creek; on the first pass he had sparklers and on the
second pass he was celebrating by shooting off a Roman Candle.
Soon
the club itself was spearheading the annual tradition and had assumed the lead
role. But a catastrophic fire in the early eighties, followed by bankruptcy
after the club’s reconstruction, put the tradition’s future in jeopardy. Since
the late forties, the show had been a summertime staple on Grand Lake. It was
literally on the pirate ship’s plank, awaiting execution or for Captain Morgan
to appear and save the day.
Can’t
say that I recall how many years Joe Harwood has been the driving force behind
raising funds for the Duck Creek Fireworks Show, perhaps he’s the real Captain
Morgan, but I can damn sure remember the first show I took in. The year was
1976 and I was on Everett Williams’ pontoon boat captained by his son-in-law,
Rue Morgan. Morgan was never the shy type, and he had positioned himself right
in front of the old Cherokee Yacht Club’s docks…. I think there may have been
ten or twelve slips at most.
When
the show started, the site was spectacular and so up close and personal that debris
from the exploding shells were finding their way onto the deck of the old boat.
The presentation above Duck Creek was far beyond anything this Oklahoma City
boy had ever seen at Spring Lake or Wedgewood Amusement Parks. And the grand
finale of the show was so close, I could almost touch it……The outline of the
American flag in sparklers of red, white and blue….and there was some guy, who
seemed to be in charge, shouting out orders to his crew on how to get it done.
I
learned later, the guy I had seen was W.W. Bill Bailey and it seems he knew a
thing or two about being in charge. Bill was an officer in the United States
Marine Corps, World War II vintage, and a bona fide member of Tom Brokaw’s
proclaimed “Greatest Generation.” He had survived six first wave landings in
the South Pacific as a captain commanding an infantry unit, fondly called
grunts by Marines, former and present. He was shot up, decorated and following
the war, returned to Vinita, Oklahoma and started his successful law practice.
Bill
was one of the ring leaders at The Cherokee Yacht Club, who incidentally instigated
a fireworks show to commemorate the celebration of our independence come each
Fourth of July. He was “The Duck Creek Fireworks Show.” He lit the fuses; he
canvassed area businesses and Lakers for funds to purchase the ordinance and
probably even cleaned up the mess on the club’s lawn the next morning, after
recovering from a very special celebration the previous night. For Bill Bailey,
it was just plain more than a fun time at the lake…. I suspect it was about the
men he lost and his personal realization of what the price of freedom was all
about.
When
The Cherokee Yacht Club burned down in, I think ’82, rebuilt and eventually
ended up in bankruptcy, Captain Bailey wasn’t concerned about where he would
get his fried chicken on Thursday nights while the club remained closed. Bailey
was most concerned about preserving a Grand Lake tradition he had personally helped
build.
Having
been a full-time resident of Grand Lake since 1981, I always knew Joe Harwood
had stepped forward to salvage the show. Like you perhaps, at the time, I might
have been grateful the show was going to go on, but deep down probably thought
it was at least partially about putting butts in those yacht club seats come
the Fourth of July.
On
special and significant occasions, Harwood has reached back into those memory
cells from circa 1982 and shared just how persuasive councilor Bailey could be.
It had become obvious that unless someone stepped up to the plate, the show
would not go on. Bill Bailey had decided young Joe was up to the task and made
a house call on the usually stoic Mr. Harwood, but Joe wasn’t sure he wanted to
take the project on.
He
recalls thinking, “This is like free kittens at the grocery store” and asking
Bailey, “Why would I want to do that?”
Joe
recalls how Bailey explained to him just how important an emblem of our
Independence the Duck Creek celebration had become. He recounted his memories
of those six first wave landings and shared with Joe the number of casualties
his unit had suffered. He shared with him how he had spent six years away from
home, fighting for his country, and he’d be damned if the show to celebrate
what he had fought for wasn’t going to continue.
Harwood
recounts the event like it was yesterday when he says, “That conversation took
place right here on the Arrowhead deck. And by the time Bill was done, I was
ready to do anything he asked with respect to the show. And as they say the
rest is history and we’ve gone from $5,000 and $10,000 shows to what we have today.
Harwood
adds, “Bill remained very involved in the show and I recall asking him for
advice on more than one occasion. One year, the forecast looked terrible and
there was a threat of rain. I called Bill and asked him what I should do if it
rains, to which he replied, ‘Hell boy, it isn’t going to rain…it’s the Fourth
of July.’ And you know what? It didn’t.”
In
an e-mail exchange with Harwood a few years ago, he was a little more revealing
about that conversation and recruiting visit from the Marine Captain Bill
Bailey from so long ago and wrote, “In
his very measured dressing down of my pompous, spoiled ass, he let me know he
had left half of his original platoon in the south pacific. He never raised his
voice or touched me. But it was the worst ass kicking I’ve ever received! I
never forgot it and it did put a fire in me that has not gone out.”
He went on to write, “That was one
great old man, and he did live long enough to thank me for what we have turned
the show into. If he had been less humble and a little more self-serving, it
would have gotten there a lot sooner. Bill just needed someone to tell the
story he couldn’t.”
In
the end, it has become obvious Bill Bailey’s Fireworks Show is about a lot more
than putting butts in yacht club seats. There is a lot of raw emotion for a lot
of different personal reasons and none bigger than the celebration of our
country’s independence.
If you don’t want a house call from Captain W.W. Bill Bailey
ghost, I suggest dusting off that checkbook and doing your part to preserve
Bill’s party. The sound of freedom, baby…. Let’s all chip in and celebrate the
freedom we enjoy in the greatest country on earth.
Next week: Chapter II – When the Sound of Freedom entered the
creek it was a game changer!
See Ya’Around the Pond!
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