City of Loyal considers changing fireworks display
Loyal residents were less than impressed with the city’s most recent fireworks display for Independence Day, prompting the city council to consider other options.
“I heard a lot of complaints about the fireworks. Everybody I sat with was pretty disappointed,” said Mayor Carmen Englebretson at the July 18 city council meeting. “It was a 20-minute show; the fireworks were spaced out. I talked to the fireworks guys, both of them, the one that sells and the one that shoots them, and I just told them, ‘It wasn’t impressive. Nobody knew that the grand finale was the grand finale.’” She said the city show also looked less than stellar because someone who lived nearby was continuously shooting off their own fireworks at the same time. Their show lasted about an hour, starting before the city’s show and going afterward.
“And I understand we have a budget. I guess that’s maybe part of the problem, is we didn’t raise our budget but they (the fireworks company) raised their prices,” said Englebretson.
Council member and fire department member Dave Geier said the price of shells had almost doubled.
Please see Fireworks, page 11 Fireworks,
from p. 1
Some of the other council members asked about switching to a different company.
“I think we almost have to wait until budget time to see if you can squeeze more money in the budget,” said city clerk Shannon Toufar. “We have to have a state licensed person do it and they have to be state licensed fireworks… For Greenwood, I don’t know where they get their fireworks from, but their fire department is state licensed and they shoot their own off.”
Englebretson said Greenwood had reached out to ask if Loyal was interested in combining.
“It doesn’t hurt to talk to Greenwood, especially since they’re already shooting their own off,” said council member Curtiss Lindner.
Council member Jenae Weyer agreed, saying she had talked to a few citizens who had suggested combining with Greenwood. The communities could alternate which one hosts the show each year.
The council also discussed the date of the fireworks, which traditionally have been held on July 4. This year, with the threat of rain, the city rescheduled the fireworks to the Friday after the Fourth. Weyer said a lot of people did not like having fireworks July 4 and having to work the next day, so they appreciated the date change. Moving forward, Englebretson suggested having fireworks July 3, so most people would have off the next day and the Loyal show wouldn’t be competing with other shows.
No decision was made, but the issue was going to be taken to the parks and recreation committee to be discussed further.
In other business, Tom Bobrofsky reported on Loyal Public Library news. The library had 1,500 more items checked out in the first half of 2023 compared to the first half of 2022. This year, the library had 9,048 circulations from Jan. 1 to June 30. During that same time period last year, the library had 7,481 circulations. The library also had 170 people attend its magician performance and 155 attend its play as part of the summer reading program. Those numbers include summer school students. Also, Jim Mildbrand volunteered the use of his garage and truck for the library float in the Corn Fest parade.
