Fourth of July: Upload Your Fireworks Photo, Win a Schiller's Gift Card

You could win a $50 gift card to Schiller's by uploading your favorite July 4th fireworks photo! Our brief guide will help you capture those sparkles in the sky, whether you're using a point-and-shoot or DSLR camera.

Do you like taking photos? Do you want a fun challenge, and a chance to win a $50 gift card to Schiller's Camera and Video in Brentwood? By uploading your favorite July 4th fireworks photo to this article, you'll automatically be entered into a random drawing for the gift card! Your photos will also be showcased across Patch. Just click "Upload Photos" above the article to submit your favorite photo. After the the fireworks have cleared on Independence Day, we at St. Louis Patch will randomly select a winner. This contest will run from June 28 to Tuesday, July 10. How to shoot photographs of fireworks Capturing fireworks on camera is a challenge that can be mastered easily with the right equipment and settings on your camera. Read the …

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MAP: Where To Buy Fireworks for July 4th Near Chesterfield

Fireworks sell/buy/use is banned in St. Louis County.

For a quick "where to buy fireworks" guide near Chesterfield, use this map of Jefferson County locations. Fireworks sale are banned in St. Louis County, which is where Chesterfield is located. But Chesterfield hosts its annual fireworks display and celebration with music, food, and inflatables for kids, in the Chesterfield Mall parking lot. Opens 7pm, fireworks at 9:30pm, July 4. July 4th falls on a Wednesday this year. Which weekend are you making a three-day holiday? Or taking off the whole week to get away? Check out "Black Market" fireworks. You can't miss the huge billboard about it on I-44 in Fenton/Valley Park area. However, use caution in firing off your own fireworks. Doctors say eye injuries are one of the most common from …

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Jean Whitney

4:52 pm on Sunday, June 24, 2012

Good point!   more ›

Editor's Notebook

'Independence Day,' Sparklers and Basic Training

St. Louis "Patch" editors share their Fourth of July memories.

The Fourth of July represents the best of summer: barbecues, time with family and friends, and a long day spent under the sun capped off with a beautiful fireworks display.  It's been one of my favorite holidays for years, and it always conjures up memories of my mom flipping burgers, my siblings' laughter filling the air and efforts to write our names in the sky with the waning smoke from sparklers. Here's a few of other St. Louis Patch editor's memories of Independence Day. Lights Over Water It must have been around 1968 when my parents bought their first boat, a little wood-hulled ski boat. That started a three-year period in my life when summer weekends meant going to the lake. The Fourth of July at Lake Mattoon is a special memory for…

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Chesterfield Residents Should Leave Fireworks Displays to the Experts

The use of fireworks is against the law in St. Louis County, but it is permitted in Franklin, Jefferson and St. Charles counties.

If you live in Chesterfield and were planning to hold your own fireworks display to celebrate the Fourth of July, you may want to think twice. That’s because the sale, use and possession of fireworks in St. Louis County is illegal. “The ban also includes all 91 municipalities included within the county,” said Mac Scott, a county spokesperson. “Violation of the law could cost between $50 and $1,000. The fee is at the discretion of the judge.” Rick Eckhard, a spokesman for the St. Louis County Police Department, said his office steps up patrols around the holiday and typically receives an increased number of calls regarding the use of fireworks. Eckhard did not have any statistics on the number of tickets handed out for fireworks violations…

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