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Decision expected soon on Charles City July 4 activities

Decision expected soon on Charles City July 4 activities
Will Charles City have a fireworks display to celebrate Independence Day this year? Maybe, but it might be in a different location than near the First Street bridge. Press file photo by Bob Steenson
By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

Charles City will have some sort of Fourth of July celebration, but what it will look like is still being decided.

The Charles City Council heard from Community Development Director Mark Wicks at a Wednesday night council meeting, saying that a decision would likely be made in the next day or two regarding a community Fourth of July celebration.

“We’re looking at everything,” Wicks said. “We do want the city’s input. We asked for the Police Department’s input and got it. We’ve talked to Floyd County Public Health, Floyd County Emergency Management. We just want to have all the players get their input, ideas, concerns, recommendations, before we make a decision.”

He said the big concern is the governor’s current COVID-19 guidelines that limit events to 50% of capacity and require social distancing, whether that’s along the parade route or in Central Park.

“What the Police Department will tell you is that’s extremely difficult to enforce and make sure we have proper social distancing,” Wicks said. “It would be nice if everybody would assure us they would stay in their cars or sit in their yards and watch, but odds are that won’t happen.”

Wicks said the Chamber of Commerce committee is looking at alternative events and activities if it decides to not do the traditional July 4 activities.

“One way or the other we will have a Fourth of July celebration in town. It’s just a question of whether we have it as one big mass gathering or we spread it out around town,” he said.

Regarding a fireworks display, Wicks said that could be delayed until later in the summer, or the location could be changed from the traditional spot of setting them off near the Main Street bridge.

He suggested the airport as one alternative, where they have had the fireworks display in the past. That would allow more space for people to spread out or to watch from their cars, he said.
“We’re not throwing anything out the window at this point. We’re gonna look at all opportunities,” he said.

Council member Jerry Joerger said he would be in favor of staying away from any kind of large group activity.

Council member Phoebe Pittman agreed, said Charles City doesn’t want to be the community that flouts the restrictions.

“We’ve all seen the photos from Memorial Day weekend,” she said, referring to pictures of large groups with people very close to one another. “We don’t want to be that community.”

Wicks said a decision needs to made soon.

The committee needs to know what’s going on and the community needs to know what’s going on.
“We can’t pull something like this together in a couple of weeks, he said.

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