IVFD gets okay to move fireworks show

    Imperial’s fireworks show July 3 will be moving to a different location, after an okay from the city council Monday night.
    Fire Chief Doug Mitchell and other officers were at the meeting, looking for an alternate site and received the okay to hold the show at the city’s Cornerstone property.
    The grassy area on the east side of the fairgrounds has been used in the past. This year, a fair board-sponsored bullriding event is scheduled July 3 on the grounds, affecting space needed to set up the fireworks show, said Clerk/Administrator Jo Leyland.
    IVFD members start in the afternoon preparing the launch area and watering down dry grass ahead of the 9 p.m. show that night.
    “With the clearances we need to have, we just won’t have it over there,” said Kelsey Weiss, IVFD 2nd asst. chief.
    “And, really, with the upgrades they’ve done, it’s really starting to push our limits over there anyway,” he added.
    Weiss said IVFD officers thought the Cornerstone property would be a good option with no overhead power lines and has the needed distance from residential property.
    Fire Chief Mitchell said he’s already talked with one business owner in Cornerstone who was agreeable to allowing his lot to be used for parking.
    In related action, the council also approved the $9,800 cost for fireworks for this year’s show from J & M Displays in Yarmouth, Iowa, the same company the city used in the past.
    The cost is up $450 from the 2022 show for the same number of shots.