Almost everywhere you look, you see a deeply divided America these days. Roe versus Wade. Gun control. Immigration. Race relations. LGBTQ. It seems that never in our nation's history have we been more polarized and politicized on so many fronts at once.
You sometimes wonder if there's anywhere you can go where we're still tied together with red, white and blue, our country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee we sing.
And then you stumble upon the Brainerd Golf Course a few minutes before 8 a.m. this past Monday. Red, white and blue was everywhere. On everything. On everyone. The late, great Ray Charles' soulful rendition of "America the Beautiful" was blaring from the clubhouse's loudspeakers. American flags were hanging from every place they could be placed. Every golf cart was decorated to the max.
"Welcome to the seventh Firecracker Invitational in eight years," said tourney organizer Susan Thurman a few minutes after that.
Welcome, indeed. As they have every year that the coronavirus pandemic has allowed since 2015, the Brainerd Women's Golf Association staged the feel-good tournament of the year for 88 ladies determined to celebrate our nation's 246th birthday in style, albeit a week early.
"There's so much camaraderie," said Nan Payton, who chose not to play in the event, but spent hours and hours preparing for it and decorating the clubhouse along with 24 other women who worked for three hours Sunday to make the old club extra festive. "Everybody gets in the spirit to celebrate this very special time of year."
It has been that way from the beginning. Each hole is sponsored by an individual or family honoring a veteran. For all the friendly competition, the winner usually gets nothing pricier than a large basket a fireworks, with the runner-up getting a smaller batch.
And while the core group has remained the same, there is always new blood, beginning with GPS volleyball and bowling coach Jenny Bullard, the former Red Bank and University of Tennessee volleyball great.
"I just started this past year, after I got all my joints fixed," said a smiling Bullard, appropriately dressed in red, white and blue. "It's something you can stay competitive doing after your body won't let you play your former sports."
Not everyone in the Firecracker is as athletically gifted as Bullard. As Thurman noted with a nod to fellow participant Evelyn Marie Williams: "We have a lot of ladies out here with talents other than golf."
Thurman soon pulled out one of the beautiful "Tee (gift) bags" designed by Williams. They featured red, white and blue dressed golfers against a background that could easily have been the golf course sometimes affectionately referred to as "Brainerd National."
Asked how long it took Williams to complete her masterful artwork, she said, "Four or five hours."
It looked as if it could easily have taken twice that long.
Of course, not all the talent on display at the Firecracker Invitational is female in nature. There's the color guard furnished each year by American Legion Post 95 in East Ridge. This year's quartet of Jim Grisard, Larry Palmer, Rishard Eady and David Mullins not only saw Grisard deliver a perfect "To the Colors" on his bugle, but also a crisp three-gun salute following the entire tourney field citing the "Pledge of Allegiance" without a single kneeler in the bunch.
How invested is Mullins in this country?
Not only did he serve in the military, but his son David Jr. is in the service now, stationed in Germany where he works on Chinook helicopters. Beyond that, David Sr. wears a bracelet that belonged to his uncle Larry C. Jordan, an MP who was killed in South Vietnam.
Thurman will tell you the Firecracker is still not quite back to its pre-Covid form. Box lunches were again substituted for the once-scrumptious barbecue buffet. Lunch tables were spread farther apart. Drinks were in bottles rather than cups.
But, otherwise, the unique 18-hole format - six holes of select shot, six holes of best ball, six holes of alternate shot - went off without a hitch. Karen Burns and Michelle Purchase won the Lady Liberty Flight with a 69. Judy Acuff and Diane Dycus claimed the Liberty Belles Flight with a 77. Bonnie Hamilton and Deedee Raulston brought home the Betsy Ross Flight with an 80, and Delores Haynie and Sandra Henry took Rosie the Riverter honors with an 86.
Still, this event has never been so much about performance as patriotism.
Or as Amy Long - who partnered with Thurman - said of her first time in the Firecracker: "Just such a wonderful group of ladies. And it's so special being able to honor our country and the people serving our country."
Especially when so many seem intent on doing the opposite these days.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.