MichiganFireworks.com Blog

Spring Lake Heritage Festival Fireworks Back ON!

Came across a story in the Grand Haven Tribune this morning that the Heritage Festival Fireworks in Spring Lake are back on; apparently there was some doubt that they'd have the funds this year.  Festival dates are June 15 thru 20th, with fireworks on the 19th.  Thanks to everyone who contributed to the rescue, and don't forget - if you can spare a few bucks donation to help offset the cost, get in touch with your local officials.

Posted 02/03/2010

How Communities Can Raise Money For Fireworks

It's been a constant story this season, how there are fewer fireworks this season. I've certainly seen it here - usually by this time I have well over 450 displays. Some of them have been canceled, and in some cases, I just wasn't able to find anyone who could confirm the information, by website, by email or by phone.

I'm constantly exhorting the public on what they can do for their communities; now it's time for me to list a few things the communities can do for themselves.

Devote A Page On Your Website To Your Fireworks Display! So many times I'll go to a city, township or village website, and they don't have *any* information about their 4th of July celebration. Or it's buried where nobody can find it. Or they post it on July 1. I speak from experience - people start looking for this information as early as January. So put it where they can *find* it. Even if your community can't afford a web page, you can start up a Facebook account.

Once you have a page, open up a Paypal account, and put a "Donate" button everywhere you can! Make it EASY for people to donate to you, and they will! If you wait to pass a bucket at the gathering itself, you run the risk that people won't have cash on them, or you have a lot of people handling the cash which could be a security risk, whereas, if you run a Paypal donation account, you can actually take credit card donations (people don't have to have their own Paypal account to donate) and while Paypal takes a couple of percent off the top of those, it's still money you might not have had otherwise!

In fact, I'm willing to make an offer: If any community opens up a PayPal account and sends me their code, I'll post the donation button here on their listing and I'll even make a special page for it! There! No excuse now! I won't get anything out of it, it goes straight from my site into your Paypal account. And it has to come from an authoritative and verifiable source, of course. Send me email if you want to take me up on this offer, or want more information on how it works.

I really don't want even fewer displays next year. Let's get everyone involved in this. The tools are there - we just need to use them. If your community is struggling to keep the fireworks going, feel free to point them to this page.

Posted 07/02/2009

We're In Full Swing / How to Donate

We're in full swing now! Thanks for all the great emails thanking me for the site - by this time next year, I'll have a place where people can post on the site, arrange get togethers, share info, etc etc. I have a lot of plans for the future, as time and funds allow.

One of the things I get asked a lot is if I'll take donations. I don't like to ask; for one thing, I think donations should more properly go to your local communities to make sure the fireworks keep going on, and my site is largely a labor of love (and ad supported as I'm sure you've all noticed). My main expenditure is time, but there are certainly costs involved. At any rate - if you want to donate, Here's a Paypal button.

I'm thinking of starting up a Facebook fan page - what do you think? Let me know.

Posted 07/02/2009

Flint Fireworks - Canceled

Sorry to read this year that the Flint Fireworks Display has been canceled for 2009. I wish I could say I was surprised. Oh well, hopefully you'll be able to find other displays nearby, and perhaps it will return another (better) year.

The source for this information was this article on MLive.com

Posted 06/23/2009

Manistee Fireworks - Back on!

It looks like the Manistee fireworks (previously announced as cancelled) are back on for July 3rd, with a rain date of July 4th.

So glad this display was rescued! My source is this document on the Manistee Chamber of Commerce site; as always, give them a call to verify if there is any doubt in your mind.

They'll also be collecting donations for next year's show, so if you can spare a few bucks, please pitch in. It's the only way to keep community fireworks displays going.

Posted 06/13/2009

Accuracy - I'm trying!

Just noticed that my posted date for the Marysville Days fireworks was incorrect, so I've corrected it, and I'm sorry for the inconvenience.

As I mention (all over the site) I do my best to get accurate information, follow up on the tips and leads and verify them with proper sources, etc, but sometimes dates changes, and this year particularly we can't take for granted that a display is even being held, so sometimes there are going to be errors. I also notice there are a lot few city/township/village websites actually being updated this year (maybe staffing issues?) and I'm getting fewer responses to my emails and calls. In some cases, it almost sounds like if they're having a festival, they want to keep it secret(!), because they're sure not making it easy to find.

In any case, again I apologize, and I reiterate, call or visit the website (if listed) to get the most current and up to date information before you make plans or head out. And if you find something that's different than what I have posted here, and you're reasonably sure it's authentic, it'd be great if you could let me know or shoot me a tweet on Twitter so others can benefit too. Thanks a bunch!

Posted 06/05/2009

Posting Cancellations

This year for the first time, I'm going to post the cancellations that I hear about. In these tough economic times, many communities are finding it difficult to come up with (or justify) the money it takes to put on a nice display. Hopefully they'll be back next year, better than ever.

Meanwhile, if you hear of a display that's not being held this year, OR if you hear of one of the cancellations that's been rescued, please drop me a line so I can update the site.

If your community can't hold a fireworks display this year, I hope you can find one close by!

Posted 05/21/2009

Grand Rapid 4th of July Fireworks are a go!

Great news!  Amway Corp has stepped in to make sure the Grand Rapids 4th of July Fireworks display happens this year.  I was really worried about this one, since I'd read they were having serious problems raising the money.

Read the full story here

Posted 05/15/2009

I'm working on this section - honest.

This is a stopgap - I have a couple of topics I am going to mention here - one of the main things I want to discuss is ways that communities can help make sure that they keep their fireworks displays.  It's *really* disheartening to see how many fewer displays we have this year, including some fairly well known shows.  Of course, we all know how Michigan's economy is (or isn't) doing - and in the grand scheme of things, there are times that you just have to make the cuts.

I'll try to post the cancellations here as I get them, and confirm them. 

For the communities where the fireworks display is on the fence - there might be things done to raise money, and I hope to put forth some of my ideas on that here.  And if you have ideas, you're welcome to send me mail, and I'll post 'em here too - until I get some real blog software going.

Thanks!

Posted 05/10/2009