I know: What's a Fourth of July without a little sparkle?

And I'm not talking about those wimpy sparklers.

Still, all the same, if you had to pick a year to skip the fireworks at home festivities, this would be a wise one. If you're inside any municipal boundaries in Horry County, it is not legal to discharge fireworks. Horry County leaves it up to the individual property owners to determine if fireworks are prohibited in the unincorporated areas.

On top of that, despite recent rains it's still quite dry out there from the drought and any fire that does take hold could lead to a much bigger fire display than anyone would ever want. Yesterday's wildfire in Carolina Forest was an all too real reminder of that.

Still, for all that bellyache of bad news, you can take solace in knowing that there's a myriad of free public shows to watch around the area — and there are details on all that over here.