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Prairie Chamber seeks help funding fireworks

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By Correne Martin

In the year 2020, it will be 35 years that the Prairie du Chien Area Chamber of Commerce has taken the lead on the community’s yearly fireworks the second Saturday of July. Yet, the chamber has reached a point where it is looking to the greater community for suggestions on how it may help fund the celebration going forward.

“We enjoy the people coming to Prairie du Chien and seeing the children on the island, and we really appreciate the support we had this year and in the past,” Chamber CEO Bob Moses said Tuesday, after meeting with his board of directors. “But with the tariffs from China increasing the costs on what we pay for the fireworks, it’s going to be another $3,000 to $4,000 next year for the same kind of show we had this year.”

Moses said, for the past eight years or more, the chamber has collected between $7,000 and $11,000 total to be spent on the fireworks. The 2019 display cost $8,000, and it was more difficult this year to shoot them off, he said, since the flooding affected the beach area on the north end of the island. Most recently, the city has contributed $4,000 per year toward the celebration. Donations from Chamber businesses, viewer solicitations and personal supporters have made up the remainder of the cost.

According to Wisconsin state statute, the chamber’s hotel/motel room tax revenue cannot be used toward the expense of the local fireworks. This is because such activity is not considered to be a significant transient tourist draw and is not likely to directly generate multiple local paid overnight stays. So the chamber has limited funds to contribute itself.

“We want to reach out to the community and ask if people want the fireworks to continue and, if so, what suggestions can they offer to help fund it next year,” Moses said.

The chamber is contacting other area communities to understand how they raise funds for their fireworks. From what Moses has learned, other communities have organizations such as fire departments or community clubs that host breakfasts, beer and brat frys, fish frys, etc., solely for the purpose of bringing in money toward the year’s fireworks. Yet, he shared, that the chamber isn’t looking to plan other events as such, though they would welcome other civic groups to consider doing so.

For the past decade, Prairie du Chien has welcomed vendor Chrome Pyrotechnics, formerly Krueger Pyrotechnics—based out of Cuba City originally and now Madison—to shoot off the community’s display. “They’re a very good company to work with. Their costs are the most reasonable,” Moses said.

He noted that, as it has been, setup for recent years’ displays takes about five hours. There’s also a lot of behind-the-scenes work that goes into it, according to Moses. 

“I file an application with the Coast Guard and the Department of Homeland Security. I get a permit from the city. I contact the police, fire department and the county. The liability (insurance) is a lot as well,” he stated.

If Prairie du Chien were to put less money into its fireworks display, he added, it would mean the use of smaller shells, which would decrease the booms and sparkling effects, or essentially the quality of the show.

“We need to make a decision by Jan. 1. We cannot lock in with any pyrotechnics company and then back out,” Moses said. “Again, we enjoy doing this and we appreciate the support. We can organize it; we just need some great idea how to fund it.”

Anyone interested in assisting financially toward the future of the community fireworks event is urged to contact the chamber at 326-8555.

Years ago, before the chamber took over the fireworks in 1995, they were blasted off out by the country club golf course, according to information gathered from local history. Moses said, the chamber director at the time, Fred LaPointe, wanted to celebrate the 200th anniversary of French explorer and trader Nicolas Perrot building Fort Saint Nicolas on the south end of the prairie.

“It was done on the 14th of July because that was Bastille Day,” Moses added, the day the French gained their independence in 1789.

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