By CHERYL ROMANO/Lincoln Chronicle
YACHATS — The city’s busiest and biggest money-making day of the year is July 4. But after years of scattered complaints the city of Yachats and the Yachats Chamber of Commerce are asking if the day’s centerpiece event — a long, loud, traditional fireworks display — be replaced with something less disturbing?
That was the central question of a survey emailed to some 4,500 people last week, with initial results scheduled to be presented to the Yachats City Council at its monthly meeting on Wednesday.
Within a day after the survey went out, more than 250 responses had poured in, according to city manager Bobbi Price, who worked with chamber director Nichole Lippincott on the survey effort.
The survey was prompted by citizen comments to the council and city after this summer’s July 4 fireworks show.
“We were hearing from residents with concerns about traditional fireworks and thought it was important to ask for visitors’ input, too,” Price told the Lincoln Chronicle.
She and Lippincott drafted a questionnaire that went out to the 1,500 email addresses on the city’s notification list and to the chamber’s list of more than 3,000.
People not on the lists and who want to take the survey can find it on the city’s website. Surveys can be submitted only once.
Peril or patriotism?
The issue?
Traditional fireworks with their chest-thumping explosions have been shown to trigger people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, can terrify some pets and wildlife, pollute the air and water, and leave trash in environmentally sensitive areas.
People who enjoy fireworks often downplay the concerns and contend the aerial displays are an important part of a traditional patriotic celebration.
While initial the survey results reflect varying opinions for and against licensed, commercial legal fireworks, Price and Lippincott said there was strong concern about the noise, trash and fire danger from personal fireworks throughout the city before and after July 4.
All fireworks except smoke bombs and sparklers are illegal throughout Lincoln County except in Siletz and Toledo, but there are so many people shooting them off that police agencies say they are powerless to deal with all but the most dangerous incidents.
The survey is also asking people their opinions about potential alternatives to traditional fireworks, including “low noise” fireworks and laser shows.
Low-noise fireworks aren’t silent, but produce sizzle or hissing sounds measuring around 70-85 decibels, compared with the 150-170 decibels of traditional displays. Laser light shows are soundless but often accompanied by music.
Lippincott is soliciting cost estimates from Western Display of Canby, the company that stages most legal fireworks along the coast. She told the Lincoln Chronicle that she and Price expect to submit estimates to the city council in October.
The chamber contracts with Western Display for the fireworks out of its budget, which is funded primarily by the city from lodging taxes. This year’s fireworks show cost $25,000, including portable toilets and trash pickup. The display is staged at Yachats State Recreation Area overlooking the ocean.
A drone show seems to be off the table. Lincoln City staged a drone show this year that cost $70,250 and was disappointing to many.
While “the media reacted very positively to a modern, eco-friendly Independence Day Show,” feedback from residents was mixed, said Kim Cooper Findling, director of Lincoln City’s marketing group Explore Lincoln City.
Two hundred drones were involved in the display over Siletz Bay, which some attendees criticized for being clearly visible only to those watching from Taft Waterfront Park.
“Some people really missed the fireworks,” Findling said in an email to the Lincoln Chronicle. “But just as many appreciated the shift to a celebration seen as better for a wider swath of the community and its natural spaces.”
She noted that Lincoln City’s departure from a traditional fireworks show was motivated by growing community concerns about the negative impact of the explosive aerial displays.
But, Findling said, “We are looking at several options for next year’s Independence Day celebrations and plans are as yet undecided.”
More Yachats activities?
There’s no indecision, however, about the economic impact of July 4 on many communities, including Yachats.
“A lot of our businesses see a huge influx of visitors that day,” Price told the Chronicle.
Price said that she’s been told that before the start of city-sponsored July 4th displays about 30 years ago “We were dead in Yachats.”
“The fireworks show began to bring business into town during the holiday,” she said.
In addition to the fireworks, Yachats offers a number of activities around July 4 for residents and visitors. There’s the popular La De Da parade, art and craft bazaars, a pancake breakfast, a big book sale and free concerts.
Still, Price said, the hours between the parade which ends about 1 p.m. and fireworks at 10 p.m. could be a time to offer more diversions and the city/chamber survey is asking people’s thoughts on what those activities might be.
“We’re considering what other types of entertainment we might offer to get people mingling throughout downtown, and moving around,” she said.
Possible options include bubble art exhibitions, sidewalk artists, yard games in the field behind the Commons, and asking the popular umbrella drill team to perform a second time after the parade.
“We’d like to have some fun, whimsical things for people to do, in the spirit of La De Da,” Price said.
- Cheryl Romano is a Yachats freelance reporter who contributes regularly to Lincoln Chronicle. She can be reached at Wordsell@gmail.com
If we’re concerned about the safety and comfort of people and pets, let’s install speed cameras and fine the scofflaws who race their cars and bikes through town. And keep the fireworks.
Detonation of percussive, airborne pyrotechnics traumatizes household pets and animals in the wild. The remnants are harmful to our streams and marine life. They also torment those who suffer from PTSD.
To promote and participate in such harmful activities is astonishingly inconsiderate and irresponsible.
Anti-fireworks tourism is a thing too; and seems to be growing in popularity. A lot of people flock to areas during the 4th and New Year’s with strict bans like Cannon Beach, and they get busier with each year.
I am in favor of a drone show and drop the pyrotechnics and explosives for the damage they do to pets, wildlife, and trauma survivors.