Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Festival Planning topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Newland leaders weigh sites, shell sizes and $13,000 estimate for Fourth fireworks
Summary
Town officials and a fireworks vendor debated where to stage Newland''s Fourth of July fireworks, balancing visibility, safety clearances and cost; the vendor offered test shots and cited a roughly $13,000 price for a 10-minute show.
A fireworks vendor told the Newland town council at its meeting that a 10-minute, professionally fired show currently runs about $13,000 and would require site-specific safety clearances and permits.
"A 10-minute show is $13,000," the vendor said, adding that figure includes tariffs and that the cost breaks down to about $1,200 per minute. The vendor offered to stage test shots at candidate locations so council members and residents could see how different shell sizes look.
Council members and residents debated several discharge sites. The vendor said Heritage Park could accommodate the largest shells (up to 6 inches) if the fallout zone was clear of homes, while Shoemaker Park, Newell Elementary's baseball field and the Optimists field would allow progressively smaller shells (4 inches, 3 inches and 2 inches respectively). He reminded the group that state rules require at least 70 feet of clearance per inch of shell, a constraint that shrinks available spectator area as shell size grows.
Residents and council members pressed on viewing angles, crowd control and whether the audience could reasonably travel to viewing areas if the launch site moved outside town. The vendor said smaller shells could be used to preserve space for festival vendors and crowd activities, and that shows can be choreographed to music.
The vendor also described permitting logistics and offered to coordinate test shots: "I can pull a permit, come out here and shoot a couple shells so people can see." He estimated the permit approval process could be completed within about a week once applications were submitted to the fire marshal.
Town officials said they would consider the vendor's offer to stage test shots at Heritage Park and in town, check parking and ADA access for each candidate venue, and follow up with the vendor about exact run-time and shell-size configurations. No formal decision or vote on grant funds or site selection was recorded at the meeting.
Next steps: the council asked the vendor to arrange demonstration shots and requested follow-up information about revised cost estimates and permit timelines before finalizing a plan.
