Family set fire to their tiki bar after burning Christmas tree
A family that ceremonially incinerates their Christmas tree in MAY every year got a nasty shock when it set fire to their brand new tiki bar. Jason McGowan, 47, and his family burn their withered Christmas tree every year in May as a tradition to mark the start of the summer - this year things went awry. "We'd just built that brand new tiki bar," said Jason, a teacher from Sayville, New York. "We had made our backyard our oasis for quarantine.
My son was filming it and we were actually playing 'Burning Down the House' by the Talking Heads as it happened."With regards to the damage, the McGowan family are counting themselves lucky, considering the circumstances."The tiki bar had a Mexican thatched roof that we'd sprayed with flame retardant.
But, a few months ago, I put new thatch on one side and never put the fire retardant on it," said Jason, a dad-of-six. "So that half of the roof was all burnt. "It was a windy night.
The wind caught the tree at exactly the wrong moment. "In the end, I ordered some new Mexican thatch which was probably $150 and some new lights which were maybe $40.
I also had four bar stools with cushions that I had to replace, which was $180."We have trees right behind the tiki bar though, so it really could have been a disaster.
The damage wasn't actually too bad."The Christmas tree burning, which took place on May 18th, is a time-honored McGowan family ritual. "I keep the tree out there until we have the first family gathering of the summer," said Jason. "So it sits in my backyard until around Memorial Day weekend." "We have a nice little fire pit.
I've been doing this for years.
We have six kids and it's like a little show." Typically Jason loads the tree with a series of comedic messages written by those in attendance. "This year we wrote notes like: 'I can't be strong,' and 'I can't get in great shape' stuff like that. "I was trying to get the message to my kids that 'yes we can', and let's get that negative word 'can't' out of our vocabulary…'I can't burn down my entire backyard with a Christmas tree!'As for putting out the fire, Jason gives full credit to his wife Tiffany Rowan McGowan, 39, who teaches in the same county as her husband."We're both softball coaches and the top two teams in the county.
We're rivals, so I was a little nervous she might let it burn to get back at me," he joked.
A family that ceremonially incinerates their Christmas tree in MAY every year got a nasty shock when it set fire to their brand new tiki bar.
Jason McGowan, 47, and his family burn their withered Christmas tree every year in May as a tradition to mark the start of the summer - this year things went awry.
"We'd just built that brand new tiki bar," said Jason, a teacher from Sayville, New York.
"We had made our backyard our oasis for quarantine.
My son was filming it and we were actually playing 'Burning Down the House' by the Talking Heads as it happened."With regards to the damage, the McGowan family are counting themselves lucky, considering the circumstances."The tiki bar had a Mexican thatched roof that we'd sprayed with flame retardant.
But, a few months ago, I put new thatch on one side and never put the fire retardant on it," said Jason, a dad-of-six.
"So that half of the roof was all burnt.
"It was a windy night.
The wind caught the tree at exactly the wrong moment.
"In the end, I ordered some new Mexican thatch which was probably $150 and some new lights which were maybe $40.
I also had four bar stools with cushions that I had to replace, which was $180."We have trees right behind the tiki bar though, so it really could have been a disaster.
The damage wasn't actually too bad."The Christmas tree burning, which took place on May 18th, is a time-honored McGowan family ritual.
"I keep the tree out there until we have the first family gathering of the summer," said Jason.
"So it sits in my backyard until around Memorial Day weekend." "We have a nice little fire pit.
I've been doing this for years.
We have six kids and it's like a little show." Typically Jason loads the tree with a series of comedic messages written by those in attendance.
"This year we wrote notes like: 'I can't be strong,' and 'I can't get in great shape' stuff like that.
"I was trying to get the message to my kids that 'yes we can', and let's get that negative word 'can't' out of our vocabulary…'I can't burn down my entire backyard with a Christmas tree!'As for putting out the fire, Jason gives full credit to his wife Tiffany Rowan McGowan, 39, who teaches in the same county as her husband."We're both softball coaches and the top two teams in the county.
We're rivals, so I was a little nervous she might let it burn to get back at me," he joked.
