While other towns across the country celebrate the Fourth of July by shooting off fireworks, the tiny town of Glacier View in Alaska doesn’t get dark enough for fireworks to be displayed. That doesn’t, however, mean they don’t celebrate in a bang-up way! Since they can’t enjoy fireworks, residents of Glacier View simply launch cars, trucks and RVs off a cliff and down 300 feet to their doom. The tradition began in the early 2000s, when someone hit a moose and needed to dispose of the wrecked vehicle. That someone had imagination, and it was all downhill from there. Don’t worry, no one is harmed. In fact, the system for launching the cars is completely hands-off. They have two launch tracks: one with a railroad track that attaches to the vehicle’s steering arm, and another one where they tie the steering wheel straight with ratchet straps and open the throttle. Just to make it even more fun, the cars are painted with some pretty wild paint jobs before they’re sent sailing. After the party is over, the cars are loaded up onto 18-wheelers and taken to be recycled, because the second-best way to celebrate America the Beautiful — after launching cars, of course — is to honor her natural beauty by keeping her clean.
