Dave Sniader, president of the Evanston Fourth of  July Association, Chairman of the Board of Trustees and co- choreographer of this year's fireworks extravaganza, has been volunteering with the  Evanston Fourth of July  Association for 25 years and setting off fireworks even  longer.

Raised on a 130-acre horse farm in Harvard, Ill.,  Sniader said Independence Day has always been a special holiday for his family.

"My birthday is July 3 and my dad's best friend has the same birthday," Sniader said. "I remember thinking at first that all the parades, fireworks and celebrations were for me." 

Ever since Sniader can remember, he said his family has had large parties with more than 200 guests, hay rides, a big barbeque and a fireworks show. 

"Every year, my father, mother and sister Laura and I would sit around the kitchen table and look through fireworks catalogs to plan the show," Sniader said. "Then we'd go to the manufacturer and and load them into the family station wagon. Our next stop was the fire chief's house where secured the all important fireworks permit " 

In 1976, Sniader said the family bi-centenial fireworks show cost his father nearly $10,000. 

Former White Sox pitcher Tubby Simoneni and former Sox  owner Bill Veck Jr., regular guests at the Sniader family celebration, used to supervise Sniader and a couple of other kids digging holes and setting the mortar's for the evening fireworks show. "

As the night went on and it got dark, Tubby and my dad would begin lighting the shells one by one with a flare," Sniader said. "They were in charge of lighting the big stuff." 

Sniader said he and his friends had a special role to play while his father and Simoneni were lighting the fuses. 

"We would get on our horses, ride out to the fields and stamp out the fires," he said. "We thought we were pretty rough-neck -- riding the horses out there in the middle of a fireworks show." 

Sniader said it wasn't until he was old enough and the age of eleven that he was bitten by the firebug. 

"Finally after many years of observing and being taught how to do things safely, my dad said 'OK, son, why don't you come down here and light a couple of these," he said. "The flash was incredible! I'll never forget the aroma -- the sulfur smell-- and the sound -- the concussion - and the oohs and aah's. We were lighting off 3, 6, 9 and 12 inch diameter shells from mortars buried next to the pond. The ground really shook. That's when I fell in love with fireworks." 

In 1977, Sniader volunteered as a radio communications volunteer with the North Shore Emergency Association for Evanston's Fourth of July Association parade, and despite a tragic car crash in 1984 that left him paralyzed from the waist down, Sniader has been involved in every Evanston Independence Day celebration since 1977. "I really fell in love with the parade and the people that put it on. Our 2002 Celebration manager Craig Thompson and his team are fantastic, energetic people. I really enjoy working with all of them".

"I have a real deep respect for the Declaration of Independence," he said. "It's not just about the fireworks and the parade." 

Sniader says this year's fireworks show will be a tribute to the 226-year odyssey that the United States has undertaken since the Declaration's signing. "When I was just 10 years old my folks took me to see "1776" on Broadway. I thought I would be bored but I loved it. I thought I was really in the room with those men that struggled with and ultimately signed the Declaration of Independence. I often truly think: would I have the courage to do what they did if asked, to commit treason, to risk being hanged? These were very special men to be remembered on their day of resolution."

"My parents both died several years ago," he said. "The people that I see and work with on Evanston's Fourth Celebration have  become my family on the Fourth of July."

In his forth year as association president, Sniader hopes to infuse this year's celebration with the patriotic spirit of Independence Day as well as with fun for the whole family.