BY STEVE BOERIGTER
President
Kiwanis Club of Los Alamos

Many of you are wondering about the 4th of July and a Kiwanis Club Fireworks Show at Overlook Park.  Even though our Kiwanis friends in Santa Fe will be hosting a fireworks show at Santa Fe Place on the 4th of July, we cannot do the same at Overlook Park at this time.  We recognize the beauty of the Overlook Park setting, but also acknowledge the much higher wildland fire danger associated with this setting compared to a mall parking lot.  Also, transportation in and out of Overlook Park for so many people is a major logistical challenge and cannot be easily executed with such a short planning horizon.  Finally, the Kiwanis Club of Los Alamos receives no compensation for our fireworks display that costs in excess of $20,000 and requires hundreds of volunteer hours to execute.  As such, we place our club finances on the line each year to host the event.  With these issues in mind, we have a new plan.

The Kiwanis Club is planning to host a community celebration event on Saturday, Sept. 4.  We could call this event by many names, but let’s just stick with “Celebration”.  We’ll put on the best fireworks display in Northern New Mexico.  We believe that all reasonable restrictions will be eased by then – we should be able to fill Overlook Park.  We’d like to host music by local groups, eat food from local friends, and just enjoy an evening together.  As always, this event is free and open to all.  We have always asked a “requested donation” at the Park entrance to help offset the fireworks bill, but we would love to try something different.  Please consider donating to the Kiwanis Fireworks Fund so that the costs of the display can be offset.  Please consider putting this event on your calendar and letting us know if you’ve got a local band.  It should be a great celebration.

You can donate to the Kiwanis Club Fireworks Celebration event in three ways:

GoFundMe : https://gofund.me/75f7e0b5

Venmo at @KiwanisClubofLosAlamos

or old fashioned check to   Kiwanis Club of Los Alamos,  PO Box 94,  Los Alamos, NM  87544