MENDOTA – After last year’s successful Fourth of July fireworks at Lake Mendota, the Mendota Area Chamber of Commerce plans to make this year’s event bigger and better.
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Matt Dean captures last year’s fireworks display at Lake Mendota. (Photo contributed)
MENDOTA – After last year’s successful Fourth of July fireworks at Lake Mendota, the Mendota Area Chamber of Commerce plans to make this year’s event bigger and better. Last year’s venue change from the Tri-County Fairgrounds to Lake Mendota offered more space for family activities. Now, the Chamber has even more ideas on how to improve the celebration. Top on the list was changing the long-standing July 4 date.
This year, the Independence Day Celebration will be held on Saturday, June 30. The Mendota City Council approved the Chamber’s request at the Jan. 15 meeting.
Jesse Arellano, Chamber executive director, noted that the board of directors was in agreement over the date change. “I think there is just a lot more we can do with it on a weekend,” he commented.
One factor in choosing a new date was the need for more volunteers. “We always struggle to find volunteers. Now, there is even more ground to cover at the lake. We are hoping that by moving the date we might get more help,” Arellano said.
For long-time board members who help at the event, Arellano noted that this will give them an opportunity to spend July 4 with their families, as well.
But mostly, Arellano hopes the new date will give the Chamber more opportunity to make the celebration bigger and better each year to come. Although no official plans have been made for this year, the Chamber hopes to have live music and more family activities.
Arc Pyrotechnics, their fireworks vendor, also told Arellano that if the fireworks were on a different date, they would be able to have music synced to the show.
So far, Arellano noted Amboy and Streator are the only other nearby towns celebrating on June 30, while a lot more towns set theirs off on July 3 or July 4.
With the positive feedback from last year’s celebration, Arellano is hoping that even more people attend this year’s event. In regard to the new date, he commented, “We are going to try it and see how it goes this year.”
