Oh, boy, here's a good one. I had not heard about this. Tucked away in this DN story about auctioning off the downtown lighthouse for fireworks viewing on Saturday, I read this:
"This is truly unique, especially in light that there may not be any fireworks next Yankee Homecoming," (Yankee Homecoming fireworks chairman Jason) Lacroix said. "With the change to the Towle building parking lot, there is not enough of a safety zone and there is no other place in Newburyport we could have them."
No more fireworks at Yankee Homecoming, or at any other time?
The fireworks have for years been set off at Cashman Park, which is ... a big area (can't see anywhere that says how big) on the Merrimack River with lots of parking lot for the boat launching facility. The Towle Building abuts the park and the (currently empty except for parking lot) space between the building and the river is going to be developed into condo buildings.
I hope that having a good, close-up view of the city's fireworks displays is not among the selling points for the condos!
Gee whiz
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
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9 comments:
Well, this is disappointing! I can't imagine there is no other place to potentially have fireworks in the future? Hmmmm...
I did a quick check on Google and found safety zones of 400-500 feet for fireworks displays, but those were for barges and were set by the Coast Guard (in Boston and Provincetown, respectively). Looks like the state leaves it up to the individual community.
Where is there such a place? The Common Pasture? But that's not on the water ...
Is the safety zone not wide enough to use a floating barge in the river? Say, out by Moseley or down off the PI point? Has anyone asked the Coast Guard (which was born here, by the way)?
Ari: I was thinking the same thing. A barge. I wonder if it's doable?
Wouldn't it cost more, or do we have a barge lying around somewhere? PI Point might actually qualify without a barge, now that I think about it.
To quote the Coast Guard's own website,
"We trace our history back to 4 August 1790, when the first Congress authorized the construction of ten vessels to enforce tariff and trade laws and to prevent smuggling. Known variously through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as the Revenue Marine and the Revenue Cutter Service, we expanded in size and responsibilities as the nation grew.
"The service received its present name in 1915 under an act of Congress when the Revenue Cutter Service merged with the Life-Saving Service. The nation then had a single maritime service dedicated to saving life at sea and enforcing the nation's maritime laws. The Coast Guard began to maintain the country's aids to maritime navigation, including operating the nation's lighthouses, when President Franklin Roosevelt ordered the transfer of the Lighthouse Service to the Coast Guard in 1939."
Can you elucidate for me the connection to Newburyport? Is N'port where the ten ships mentioned were built? A tie to the Outer Banks of NC, where the Life-saving Service originated, is clear, and that seems also to be the origins of "life-saving" within the Coast Guard.
- Sarah
All the answers to your questions might be in this 2006 story from the Daily News:
http://www.newburyportnews.com/punews/local_story_350122313
Apparently some cutter was launched here in 1791. And besides, it says Newburyport is the birthplace of the U.S. Coast Guard on that sign welcoming everyone to Newburyport (the one that's getting overgrown and covered by tree branches - and the one I wrote in the Current was the dream of Ed Molin instead of the late George Cashman, thereupon upsetting the entire Cashman family, who reportedly wept when they read it).
@Mary: There is (or was) a floating barge west of the Hines Bridge in Amesbury. It's not large enough for fireworks, but such things do exist.
Between New England Development, SPS, and the Coast Guard, not to mention forming a regional alliance with Newburyport, Newbury, West Newbury, Amesbury, and Salisbury, I'm sure something can be defined. If all the above parties are interested, let alone others like the Aloft Group and the Daily News.
@Gillian: What sign overgrown with trees? I only know of the sign (though is more of a stone marker) along the "U" of the central docks.
Ari,
The sign on Storey Ave./113, right off the I-95 exit. It was installed earlier this year ...?
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