Want fireworks? Pass the hat.
When Jim Davis was growing up in blue-collar Austintown, Ohio, in the 1980s, Fourth of July fireworks were the highlight of the year. The best place to view the display was on a dead-end road near his home. He and his friends would tie aluminum cans to parked cars while the owners were watching the display, then delight in the noisy ruckus when the spectators drove away. “It became a local tradition,” says Mr. Davis, who is now a town trustee. “We started saving soda pop cans and beer cans all year long.”