(Atlantic) The Atlantic Personnel and Finance Committee will hear a proposal from a retail coach and three fireworks display companies at a meeting later today.
The recent fireworks display at the Atlantic Little League Complex came under fire because of the length of the show, or lack of. The City sent a letter to J & M Displays expressing their disappointment.
Three companies including, including Mark O’Brien, Dan Vargason, and J&M, submitted written proposals to the City for the 2022 show. The Personnel and Finance Committee will hear from the three entities at the meeting later today.
Mark O’Brien of Wild Willy’s Fireworks proposes a 45-60 minute display of large Class C fireworks for a fee of $6,000.00. He says Wild Willy’s is the only locally owned and operated fireworks stand currently in the Atlantic. Mark and his family run the business under Limited Liability Corporation. He says the entire inventory is purchased from wholesalers, stored in their permanent facility, sold locally, and not leased from a parent company from out of town. He notes 100-percent of their sales stay locally. O’Brien guaranteed their show would be spectacular and would keep people coming back year after year.
Dan Vargason of Atlantic is also interested in producing and executing the show. Vargason says he has ten years of experience shooting fireworks electronically and currently works for the Iowa Fireworks Company. Vargason says the company has donated 10-percent of their gross stand profits over the past four years to the Atlantic Booster Club. Vargason says through his selling experience; he is comfortable with storing, firing, and performing many types of fireworks. Vargason says he has experience in choreographing and electronically firing fireworks. He says his show would last a minimum of 20 minutes with various products, aerial, ground, and mid-level.
J&M displays the company responsible for the fireworks display this past year, responding to a letter from the city questioning the length of the show (15 minutes), say they learned the tech fired the show at a quick, intense pace, which thought would be more exciting but shortened the display. They said the amount fired matched the amount of product the city paid for, and it just fired too quickly. The company proposed to give the community a free $6,000 show in 2022 to make up for it.
The meeting starts at 5:15 p.m. today in the City Council Chambers.
