Andrew Walsh

‘I Don’t Think It’s Very Realistic’: Committee Mulls Postponement or Cancellation of July 4th Waveny Fireworks [UPDATED]

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Members of the volunteer committee that organizes the annual fireworks celebration at Waveny said Wednesday that the popular family gathering likely won’t happen in any form on July 4 and that it remains to be seen whether a postponed event is feasible. The Family Fourth Committee stopped short of making a formal recommendation to postpone or cancel the event. Yet even in a modified fireworks show—for example, where attendees are told to park on the lawn at Waveny and remain in their cars—members of the group voiced concerns about people ignoring such instructions. 

“Here’s an example—the parks got closed for a reason,” Committee member Wendy Dixon Fog, who also is a volunteer EMT with New Canaan Emergency Medical Services, said during the meeting, held via videoconference. “And they got closed because people refused to social distance and you had a lacrosse game and you had a little bumble bee soccer game and these parents were already told, ‘Social distancing, no games.’ So if we can’t control what they are doing in small numbers, I don’t know how we are going to be able to do this.”

Chair Tom Stadler said the Committee would meet weekly until it reached a decision. Committee member Robin Bates-Mason said Norwalk, Westport, Enfield, West Haven, Hartford and Windsor Locks already have canceled their Independence Day fireworks.

Around Town

Family Fourth Committee: Purchase Passes So That Waveny Fireworks Can Continue

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The volunteer committee that organizes one of New Canaan’s favorite annual events is urging those planning to attend to purchase passes beforehand. Though passes to the annual Family Fourth gathering will be available Thursday at Waveny Pool, they may be purchased now online (on the newly relaunched municipal website) or at several physical locations throughout town, according to Tom Stadler, chairman of the committee that oversees the event. At a cost of $35 per family for residents and $65 for nonresidents, the passes generate the only revenue that supports the Family Fourth, whose highlights include the celebrated fireworks show as well as a bouncy castle for kids and other amenities for attendees. “The fireworks show is put on by selling entrance passes and by some very generous people that give us donations every year,” Stadler told NewCanaanite.com. “Ninety-five percent of it comes from passes.

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‘Drifting Silver Rain with Crackling Tail’: New Canaan Family Fourth Committee Eyes Even More Spectacular Fireworks Show at Waveny

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New Canaan Family Fourth 2016

Uploaded by Michael Dinan on 2016-07-05.

Town officials this week approved a $30,000 contract with a Douglassville, Pa.-based pyrotechnic company to put on an even more spectacular fireworks show at the Waveny July 4th event this summer. The Family Fourth is paid for entirely out of private funds, raised mainly through sales of passes as well as generous donations. This year, the town is upping its contract between the recreation director and International Fireworks Mfg. Co. from $25,000 to $30,000—partly a step increase after the former price had been held for nearly 10 years, and partly because “we decided we wanted to add a few more things to the show and make it a more exciting show,” Recreation Director and Family Fourth Committee member Steve Benko told the Board of Selectmen at its regular meeting.

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‘A Great Night for All’: Waveny Fireworks Declared Success for Committee, Community

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The head of the volunteer group that organizes the Waveny fireworks estimates that this week’s event saw a modest increase in revenue over last year. According to Tom Stadler, chairman of the Family Fourth Committee, the picnic and fireworks show brought in about $75,000—up $1,000 from the prior summer. The funds will cover the cost of the event, he said, and extra money raised from donations, passes and food sales will carry over to next year. “My intent would be to give us a better fireworks show,” Stadler said. After a significant revenue drop two years ago, the committee this summer sought to increase donations and purchase of passes by stressing that the Family Fourth is independently funded.

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Family Fourth Committee Seeks To ‘Change the Culture,’ Encourage Attendees To Purchase Event Passes

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The volunteers who help manage traffic at the Waveny fireworks estimate that 40 percent of motorists who park at the three nearby schools do not display event passes in their vehicles, and that an additional 10 percent who park at Waveny itself also appear not to have purchased a pass. It’s a practice that Tom Stadler, chairman of the Family Fourth Committee, said he would like to change. _______________________________________________

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The committee wants to dispel what is “ingrained in the culture,” Stadler said—that the pass is a parking pass. Those walking in and even those who park at South School, Saxe Middle School, and New Canaan High School should purchase the $35 event pass, he said.