Mason City council approves $5000 for joint fireworks display on July 3rd (AUDIO)

MASON CITY — The Mason City City Council Tuesday night approved a $5000 allocation toward a tentative joint fireworks display scheduled for July 3rd at the North Iowa Events Center. The Mason City Exchange Club traditionally holds its fireworks celebration on the Mason City High School campus on July 3rd, but due to COVID-19 and the need to socially distance the spectators, the North Iowa Events Center will be the location for the show.

Mayor Bill Schickel says it’s a great example of turning a crisis into an opportunity since Clear Lake had announced a few weeks ago that their 4th of July activities were going to be cancelled due to the pandemic.    He says the Exchange Club along with the Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce got together and asked if there was a way to make this work that’s safe and keep the necessary physical distancing between people. “We took a look at the fairgrounds right away, NIACC, and some other locations were considered. The more the group talked, the more they landed on doing it at the fairgrounds.”

Schickel says the Events Center location provides the best opportunity for having an event while trying to maintain good social distancing practices.   “It’s possible for people to be able to watch the fireworks from their cars that way. There’s also a lot of surrounding parking lots in the evening that are available. We know that not everyone will comply with the regulations and the guidelines, but I think the majority will, and I think this is an opportunity to be able to provide a safe fireworks display in north Iowa, so I’m kind of excited about it.”

Schickel says the groups are still in discussions with local health officials about guidelines for the event.   “Our discussions are still underway with the Cerro Gordo County Health Department in terms of requirements, where you can be, where you can park, watching from cars. There’s questions about using the grandstand, I have concerns about that. Those things are still being worked out with the county health department. As soon as we have the guidelines available there we’ll be getting those out.”

Earlier this week, the Clear Lake City Council and Cerro Gordo County Board of Supervisors each approved a $2500 contribution to the event.

Schickel made his comments on the “Ask the Mayor” program on AM-1300 KGLO. Listen back to the program via the audio player below