As an alternative to the city’s canceled drone show, Ocala Mayor Ben Marciano says he has secured partnerships with local business owners who will fund a fireworks show to celebrate the Fourth of July in Ocala, with the hope of hosting it over Tuscawilla Park.
During Tuesday night’s meeting of the Ocala City Council, Mayor Marciano offered a proposal for fireworks to celebrate Independence Day this year.
Last month, city officials canceled a $300,000 contract with Sky Elements, LLC, the company acquired to perform drone shows at the next two Fourth of July celebrations. The vote to cancel the contract occurred exactly one month after a drone fell from the sky during one of the company’s shows in Orlando, critically injuring a child.
“Last year, the show was awesome. I think the thing that I enjoyed the most was watching people come together,” said Marciano. The mayor says he talked to business leaders who offered to sponsor the fireworks show, including Donald Gulling and John Casse.
Gulling said that he was committed to supporting the project financially and had asked around for a budget. He said he already had about “half” of the financial contributions he needed. Gulling said that he believed the support was there to get full funding for the explosives and would rely on the city for help with staffing.
“I do think that this is one of the keystone events of an all-American city like ours’. It brings, 12,000 people together, to celebrate Independence Day and showcase your civic pride and patriotism – I think it’s worth doing,” said Gulling.
After Gulling, Casse took the stand to address safety concerns with potentially hosting the show at Tuscawilla Park, something Casse has previously written to Ocala-News.com about.
In the past, the city cited fertilizer at Seminole Feed as being a potential fire hazard that eliminated the possibility of fireworks near the park.
Casse said that he spoke with Seminole Feed and confirmed that they did not have any fertilizer on site and that they did not manufacture fertilizer at the facility.
“They haven’t really done so since 2004,” said Casse, adding that the facility also didn’t have any ammonium nitrate as well. “Those should not be a concern.”
Casse said there are places where fireworks can be done at Tuscawilla Park.
“Like I said before, I’d be happy to go down there with anybody from the city who wants to go and we can look over places,” said Casse.
Casse said that his father, Norman, provided the fireworks at God and Country Day at Tuscawilla Park dating back 60 years ago, “until about 20 something years ago,” when he said it was moved around to various places.
“There are places out at Tuscawilla where [fireworks] can be done and they can be done safely. I have no doubt about that,” said Casse, who said he has done fireworks for the Symphony Under the Stars event for 25 years and at the Marion County Veterans Memorial Park. He also said he’s done the scoreboard pyrotechnics for the University of Florida’s Football team for the past decade.
“I’d be happy to go meet with anybody, go down there, and discuss and look and see, and find an area that would be safe and would be useable,” said Casse.
When asked if he would be able to do the fireworks show by the train tracks, Casse said he wasn’t aware of any laws that would prevent them so long as trains weren’t in operation.
“It’s all about having a safe distance from spectators,” said Casse. He said you have to have “70 feet per inch per shell,” so shooting a 3-inch shell would require “210 feet around you, away from where you’re shooting from.”
Before the comments wrapped, Mayor Marciano indicated that he had briefly spoken with Marion County Commissioner Michelle Stone earlier in the day and that she had confirmed the county would likely support that initiative with staffing.
Marciano said that he believed all the pieces were in place to keep the event this year, stressing the importance of not missing a year now that the city has committed to celebrating the holiday.
“Having consistency does help. We had a great turnout last year, I’d love to keep it going,” said Marciano.
City Manager Pete Lee said that, outside of the fireworks, the city has around a $60,000 budget to spend to support the event. He said he wasn’t sure that included potential sponsorships, but that they would work on a budget that the council could review next month.
Do you think the city should secure fireworks for the Fourth of July? Share your opinions in a comment below or, if you have more to say on the topic, send us a letter to the editor.