Where this year’s Fourth of July event will occur, and to what extent, remains up in the air like a high-flying firework yet to explode.
The Longmont City Council last week voted 6-0 to table discussing the event, largely due to the council wanting to know if fireworks could be launched from the Vance Brand Municipal Airport, located at 229 Airport Road, near the southwest region of the city.
City staff provided a list of event options for the council to consider that revolved around launching the fireworks from the Longmont Fire Training Center, 111 First Ave., and having a stage, food trucks, a beer garden and other attractions along nearby South Martin Street.
A drone show would also occur prior to the fireworks display.
However, the council has heard concerns from some residents about having the event near Dickens Farm Nature Area.
“We are still exploring the possibility of the airport and other parks in the city for the fireworks, based on the Council’s request,” Sandra Seader, Longmont assistant city manager, said in an email Friday.
Seader said staff will have an answer for the council during its April 9 meeting.
The feasibility of a Fourth of July event at the airport remains in question.
Community events there are possible, as the airport is scheduled to host an air show and expo there later this year. However, fireworks pose a different kind of challenge that the city needs to discuss with the FAA. An Airport Advisory Board Member did not want to comment in detail Friday, without first consulting with other members of the board.
Councilmember Sean McCoy said during the March 26 council session that he was not particularly thrilled about any of the proposed locations.
“We have a formula for great community events on Main Street and in the surrounding streets,” McCoy said during the meeting.
McCoy suggested possibly having a Fourth of July parade in conjunction with other Independence Day offerings, too.
“I think we’re going to get to a point where we don’t have as many firework shows in the future and it’ll be more drone shows, as we see other communities going in that direction too,” McCoy said.
Last year, Boulder introduced a Fourth of July drone display in lieu of fireworks, due to concerns over increased fire danger.
While the city would fund many of the Fourth of July event’s attractions, the Skyline Kiwanis Club, which has put on the fireworks display in years past — including most recently at the Fox Hill Club — would raise money to pay for the fireworks display in its entirety.
Due to its growing popularity over the years, the Fourth of July event at the Fox Hill Club has “outgrown its current venue, prompting the need for a larger and more accommodating location,” a staff memo stated.
Some residents have also questioned why the event can’t be held at the Boulder County Fairgrounds again. City staff and the Skyline Kiwanis Club looked into returning the event to the fairgrounds, but the fallout requirements for the fireworks would make a significant portion of the parking area inaccessible — among other concerns — according to the staff memo.
Kiwanis member Kyle Snyder, who has helped raise the $50,000 worth of private funding necessary to pay for the fireworks in years past, said Friday that the group simply wants a place to launch the fireworks safely — and a nearby area where community members can gather and enjoy a family-friendly, carnival-like atmosphere ahead of time, too.
Snyder was very complimentary of city staff for all it had done, trying to plan a successful Fourth of July event. But he said the Kiwanis Club needed direction, one way or another, from the council at the April 9 meeting in order to plan accordingly in a timely fashion.
“There has to be a decision made then,” Snyder said. “There has to be.”
