The public is invited to “Fireworks on the Water” on the east bank of the Stennis Lock and Dam at 5 p.m. Saturday.
It will be hosted by Columbus Air Force Base, the Army Corps of Engineers, Lowndes County and the City of Columbus in conjunction with the presenting sponsor, the Columbus Visitors Bureau, according to a CAFB news release.
The event will include food and drink vendors, live music by local bands and activities for children. The event will conclude after dark with a professional fireworks display after 9 p.m.
The public is encouraged to bring their own blankets and lawn chairs to the event. Neither pets nor personal fireworks are permitted.
“Fireworks on the Water will be a fantastic patriotic event celebrating our nation’s independence,” said Capt. Sharon J. Elliott, Aerospace and Operational Physiologist at CAFB and event co-chairman. “We invite everyone to bring their friends and families to this spectacular event.”
The event began several years ago as a way for the CVB to do something special for the men and women of CAFB, according to Nancy Carpenter, the executive director of Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau and co-chairman of Fireworks on the Water. In the years since, she said, it has grown to include the entire Columbus community, as well as visitors from other parts of Mississippi, Alabama and other states.
This year’s event will cost the CVB just under $50000, according to Carpenter.
Around 40 volunteers are still needed to put the event together, according to Renee Sanders, director of Volunteer Columbus. Volunteers will begin setting up on from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday. Volunteers are also needed to work from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, as well as to clean up on Sunday morning from around 8 a.m.-noon.
However, Sanders stressed that volunteers don’t have to work all day. A couple of hours will do, she said.
“Whatever you can give us, that’s all we’re asking,” she said.
To volunteer for Fireworks on the Water, contact Volunteer Columbus at 662-328-0943.
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