Wellman axes Fourth of July celebration

Posted 6/3/20

The annual Fourth of July celebration in Wellman will not be happening this year.

At its Monday meeting, the Wellman City Council unanimously voted to cancel all Fourth of July events for this …

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Wellman axes Fourth of July celebration

Posted

The annual Fourth of July celebration in Wellman will not be happening this year.

At its Monday meeting, the Wellman City Council unanimously voted to cancel all Fourth of July events for this year.

“I know there are a lot of communities around here who have already canceled everything,” Mayor Ryan Miller said. “Unless the governor would give us the go-ahead right away to do parades, I can’t foresee us doing anything at this point in time and just being safe about it.”

Miller said that there had been some discussion about canceling events during the day, including the parade but still having fireworks and some entertainment in North Park.

After discussing the matter with some local firefighters, who handle the fireworks show, the consensus was to cancel it all.

“They are just leery about being around other people,” Miller said. “They were kind of wanting to hold off this year and not do the fireworks.”

City Administrator Kelly Litwiller said she got similar feedback.

“We all know people are going to get together and do their own thing, and if they choose to do that, that’s fine,” she said. “But for us to be a contributing factor to that, I guess I’d just rather not be at this point.”

Council member Shannon McCain agreed.

“My opinion is that we do nothing. I hate to say it, but there are just too many ifs in this, so how can you really plan anything and make it happen right,” he said. “We had talked about maybe just doing the fireworks and people stay in their vehicles, but that’s not going to happen. People are going to get out of their vehicles.”

Miller said that the city has the option of getting a refund from the fireworks company or letting the company hold the money to be used for fireworks next year.

“It may be better off just to let it lie this year, let them keep the money and let them hold the fireworks, and we’ll do it again next year,” Litwiller said.

McCain reminded everyone that fireworks are not allowed to be shot off within city limits.