Despite severe drought conditions that caused fire officials to ban all fireworks in Los Alamos County this year, the Kiwanis Club of Los Alamos, a Laboratory sanctioned organization, and Los Alamos County are again sponsoring the annual 4th of July celebration at Overlook Park in White Rock. "This is a heavily controlled event," said Captain Robert Stibbard, a fire prevention specialist with the Los Alamos Fire Department. "We've been supervising this event since 1993 and never had a fire. All of the necessary resources will be in place to assure this is a safe event."
Music begins at 3 p.m., with the Hill Stompers and the Los Alamos community marching band performing. The Los Alamos Winds orchestra and choir will perform from 4 to 8:30 p.m.
Activities will include games for kids and adults. Food and drink vendors and information booths by local organizations also are planned. Kiwanis also will provide American flags to the first 1,000 children attending the day's activities.
"Fireworks begin at 9 p.m. and are being held in honor of the heroes and victims of [Sept. 11, 2001.] This is in keeping with President Bush's request that the Points of Light Foundation identify 5,000 volunteer projects nationwide to honor them," said Don Landry, publicity chair for the Los Alamos Kiwanis Club.
The Los Alamos Police and Fire departments, along with local veterans organizations, will officially open the festivities at 8:30 p.m. with a flag raising ceremony, preceded by remarks from State Rep. Jeannette Wallace, R-Los Alamos, Sandoval.
A lone bagpiper will initiate the flag raising ceremony with a rendition of Amazing Grace.
According to Landry, there are a few ground rules for this year's event. "Picnics are encouraged," he said. "Charcoal or propane fires in grills are authorized, but no open fires are allowed and pets are discouraged on the field."
A $3 donation per person is asked at the entrance gate to cover the cost of fireworks. Families of four or more are $10 at the gate and automobiles with four or more people are $12.
For more information on the event, contact Landry at 7-3627 or Lana Schulte at 662-3231.
To learn more about Los Alamos County fire restrictions, call the Fire and Life Safety Management Division of the Los Alamos Fire Department at 662-8328.
The Lab Alert, "Restrictions Due to Wildland Fire Conditions," can be found at http://labreq.lanl.gov/pdfs/ops/01_operations/alert0001.pdf online (Adobe Acrobat required).
| Extreme fire conditions continue in nearby forest areas Due to extreme fire conditions, the Santa Fe National Forest has restricted all camp fires, all open flames, and all smoking even in developed camp and picnic grounds, because of extreme fire conditions. The following restrictions are in place:
For more fire information, go to the Forest Service's Southwest Region Web site at www.fs.fed.us/r3/fire online. |