County, city OK July 4 fireworks at Kiwanis Family Park
Apr. 4—Sanford's July 4 activities will go on as planned despite renovations that will be underway at The Depot.
On Monday, the Lee County commissioners approved an agreement with the City of Sanford to allow music followed by fireworks in a section of Kiwanis Family Park on Wicker Street.
Sanford Parks Administrator Nick Fortune presented the request.
"For the past two years, the city has done summer concerts at Depot Park," he said. "This year, it's going to undergo renovations, so we're wanting to move those to Kiwanis Family Park and this year, July 4 is on a Thursday. Our concerts we usually do on Thursdays, so we trying to add the Fourth celebration after the concert with fireworks," he explained.
The city is asking to use the area designated for use as a workout site funded through a grant from the National Fitness Campaign. However, equipment will not be installed until next year, said Joseph Keel, the county's Parks and Recreation director.
The site has been inspected by the Sanford Fire Department to ensure the site is safe, Fortune said.
The county's attorney, Whitney Parrish, explained that she and Susan Patterson, the city's attorney, had added additional conditions.
"One of the major concerns we that we had staff looking at ... is just ensuring that the trails are barricaded ... at some point before the fireworks begin," Parrish said. "My understanding is they need to do so about noon, so we'll have to close the park early that day because we want to make sure that no one walks over to the launch pad area."
The city has been asked to provide all the needed permits for the fireworks at least 30 days before the event as well as a fully executed agreement with the fireworks vendor. The city has approved the paperwork, Parrish said, but it has yet to be returned.
The fireworks will be launched from fire trucks, she continued, and all appropriate agencies will be on hand in the event something were to happen.
Commissioner Robert Reives asked about notifying the public about the closing of the park.
"I'm sure that we'll do something to say what time we'll have to close the park. We just want to make sure all entrances are closed so that people can't come on to where the fireworks will be discharged," Parrish said.
On Tuesday, Sanford City Council also discussed the fireworks and also approved the agreement.
"I want to thank the Board of Commissioners for looking at this item and working out an agreement," Mayor Rebecca Wyhof Salmon said. "This is a another good example of city and county working together to create a very positive quality of life, it's a really great thing to see."
