Status of Holiday Fireworks in Area Communities Varies

Hurrah Colonial Beach! Thanks to everyone who contributed in any way to save this longstanding tradition.

Thank you Chamber of Commerce and thank you Town of Colonial Beach!

Ok, so would that mean that some of my tax money has gone to fireworks also? If so...AWESOME! I love seeing my tax dollars go up in smoke (quite literally) twice a year! I enjoy the fireworks here and have since I was a kid. I never knew the town was accepting donations for fireworks! Next year they should put flyers out, or even this year...it's not too late!

I have a feeling this year we will have an even LARGER amount of tourists show up for the fireworks on both occasions than last year.

Chief Hawkins: Are you prepared for the high-traffic situations we will be facing for both events? Will your department be hiring extra staff for these events or will you be accepting volunteers to help direct traffic or patrol the boardwalk?

Agree, why don't you leave town during the parade and fireworks -- then you won't have to worry about anything on that weekend.

Great people in Colonial Beach donated the money for the fireworks. So I am sure you didn't donate any money and you don't have to worry about your taxes.

Facts wrote:

Agree, why don't you leave town during the parade and fireworks -- then you won't have to worry about anything on that weekend.
Great people in Colonial Beach donated the money for the fireworks. So I am sure you didn't donate any money and you don't have to worry about your taxes.

Thank you "Facts" for saying what I wanted to say.

I knew the Potomac River Festival fireworks were being paid for out of the kindness and donations of many citizens (including myself), the good work of the Chamber of Commerce (thank you Wanda Goforth and others), contributions from certain events (including the one in honor of the Drifters held at the Riverboat, thank you Penny) and others who I know are out there but are not mentioned here.

I wasn't for sure about the Fourth of July Fireworks and I didn't want to talk out of school with knowing all the "facts" (been there and done that once, don't want to go there again if I'm able to control my exuberance and/or temper).

Anyway, thanks again!

Agree wrote:

I have a feeling this year we will have an even LARGER amount of tourists show up for the fireworks on both occasions than last year.
Chief Hawkins: Are you prepared for the high-traffic situations we will be facing for both events? Will your department be hiring extra staff for these events or will you be accepting volunteers to help direct traffic or patrol the boardwalk?

My first thought after reading the article is that all the people from King George and Dahlgren will be coming here this year. I, too, think there will be potential traffic problems.

And a special mention also to Joyce Jarrett Thor of Jarrett Thor Fine Arts who has donated a large oil portrait of "Dancer" that I am hoping to win.

By way wrote:

<quoted text>My first thought after reading the article is that all the people from King George and Dahlgren will be coming here this year. I, too, think there will be potential traffic problems.

By way, I had the same exact thought, maybe even from Fredericksburg too! But except for the extra traffic I am hoping that will be a good thing. People who can leave their car at home and walk an extra mile, this would be the time to do it.

Satellite parking and shuttle buses (busses?) like at the Annapolis boat show would sure be nice for times like these.

Facts & Gunner...you both are quite possibly the dumbest people I've ever met. I'm a citizen, I'm not putting the town down, I enjoy the extra tourists being here and the events we have, and from what I'm reading, you're nothing but drama starters who have nothing else to do with their time. You must be Colonial Beach's biggest loud-mouth know-it-all's!!!

Now children let's not fight. I think we are all in agreement that the fireworks are a great thing.

Let's all remember that bringing in all these people is good for the economy of this town and let's try to be hospitable.

I hope that none of you come back on here complaining about the noise, crowds or garbage.

It comes with being a tourist town. Thank goodness New york and New Orleans have the good sense not to bitch about the street cleaning.

It brings jobs. So folks lets be tolerant of our guests on the 4th and during festival weekend.

what were you thinking wrote:

Now children let's not fight. I think we are all in agreement that the fireworks are a great thing.
Let's all remember that bringing in all these people is good for the economy of this town and let's try to be hospitable.
I hope that none of you come back on here complaining about the noise, crowds or garbage.
It comes with being a tourist town. Thank goodness New york and New Orleans have the good sense not to bitch about the street cleaning.
It brings jobs. So folks lets be tolerant of our guests on the 4th and during festival weekend.

Love the fireworks, too, but what jobs does it bring? Seems to me that it's just overtime for town staff.

What Jobs wrote:

<quoted text>
Love the fireworks, too, but what jobs does it bring? Seems to me that it's just overtime for town staff.

When the town puts on fireworks it attracts tourists. Tourists then spend money at our stores in town. When the stores in town make money, and when business goes up, the need for more help arises which is where more jobs come into the picture.

Agree wrote:

Facts & Gunner...you both are quite possibly the dumbest people I've ever met. I'm a citizen, I'm not putting the town down, I enjoy the extra tourists being here and the events we have, and from what I'm reading, you're nothing but drama starters who have nothing else to do with their time. You must be Colonial Beach's biggest loud-mouth know-it-all's!!!

Agree, can you even read? Show me one place in this thread or any other thread in this forum where I have EVER put the town down!

Gunner, you agreed with 'facts' who put me down for no reason what-so-ever. You did not specify which part of their statement you agreed with, therefor making the general public believe that you agreed with their entire post.

Agree wrote:

Gunner, you agreed with 'facts' who put me down for no reason what-so-ever. You did not specify which part of their statement you agreed with, therefor making the general public believe that you agreed with their entire post.

OK Agree, let's just agree to disagree, no hard feelings.

Your initial post came off as being extremely sarcastic, on the one hand seemingly to enjoy the fireworks, but on the other hand truculent that maybe some of your tax money was being used to fund the fireworks. If I misread your true intent, then I am sorry.

And I will restate that NEVER will you find a single post from me that has put down the town. If you read my posts you will find that ALL of them are in support of this Town of ours.

The biggest traffic bottleneck last year and years before are at the corner of Colonial and Washington Ave. We definitely need a traffic cop to move traffic there. That stop sign is no good for getting people out of town.

GUNNER wrote:

And a special mention also to Joyce Jarrett Thor of Jarrett Thor Fine Arts who has donated a large oil portrait of "Dancer" that I am hoping to win.

Did I sell you a ticket? BTW the drawing for Dancer is on Sunday, June 14, and I plan to sell tickets at the Festival.

Observer wrote:

The biggest traffic bottleneck last year and years before are at the corner of Colonial and Washington Ave. We definitely need a traffic cop to move traffic there. That stop sign is no good for getting people out of town.

the police do an excellent job every year. when you have thousands of people leaving at once, you can't expect much.

Agree wrote:

Ok, so would that mean that some of my tax money has gone to fireworks also? If so...AWESOME! I love seeing my tax dollars go up in smoke (quite literally) twice a year! I enjoy the fireworks here and have since I was a kid. I never knew the town was accepting donations for fireworks! Next year they should put flyers out, or even this year...it's not too late!
I have a feeling this year we will have an even LARGER amount of tourists show up for the fireworks on both occasions than last year.
Chief Hawkins: Are you prepared for the high-traffic situations we will be facing for both events? Will your department be hiring extra staff for these events or will you be accepting volunteers to help direct traffic or patrol the boardwalk?

Agree...the Town is not accepting donations for the fireworks, although I'm sure they would not refuse money from anyone. It is the Chamber that is taking donations for Fireworks. The Chamber is raising money for Fireworks in many different endeavors, as mentioned in previous posts. So that means that for the Potomac River Festival none of your tax dollars will go toward the fireworks...of that you can rest assured. If you are interested in knowing where your tax dollars go, I would suggest you go to Council meetings and work session meetings to get the real scoop. However, ask your councilmen/women about the source for 4th of July fireworks if you are truly interested.
However, I do want to enlighten you on one aspect of having the tourists in town on these events. The businesses in this town are struggling to survive. Many have closed their doors, the remaining ones need tourists as well as residents to support them to survive. Believe it or not, many of these tourist do spend money in this town on holidays. Perhaps those at Castlewood Park bring coolers, but not everyone does. Look at the restaurants on holidays--they are packed. Ask the business people in town...they need the tourist industry, and we as residents need it also unless we want our taxes to continue to skyrocket. It is up to our Police Department to keep the problems such as traffic and associated other problems to a minimum. But the solution is not to discourage tourism.
Our Council is discussing ways now to capitalize on the crowds(parking) at Castlewood and hopefully will come up with a solution. I would suggest a committee to analyze the parking meter situation before investing in such a large capital improvement. We cannot afford a costly error, but that is just my opinion.

why doesn't the town charge for parking on the 4th of july?? If they make people pay to park in the lots by the riverboat, these proceeds could go towards next years fireworks.

Wanda wrote:

<quoted text>
Did I sell you a ticket? BTW the drawing for Dancer is on Sunday, June 14, and I plan to sell tickets at the Festival.

Kind of. You sold a ticket to a good buddy of mine. In a philanthropic moment at AML148 he gave that ticket to me saying that he would buy another ticket from you the next time he saw your fleet in front of the house, if there are any left.:)