Editorial Editorial (September 23, 2005)

Fairgrounds best place for July 4 fireworks

Prospects look dim for restoring Independence Day fireworks at the Fairgrounds, where they have been a tradition for years. That's too bad because it forces those of us who live here and like to celebrate our country's birthday with fireworks to go elsewhere for the festivities, including San Ramon and Livermore, which have fireworks shows on July 4. Following a plea by the city's Parks and Recreation Department and Kurt Kummer, a commission member who has long been passionate about bringing July 4 fireworks back to Pleasanton, city officials plan to meet with Alameda County Sheriff Charles Plummer and the county Fairgrounds' board of directors to persuade them to change their stance against Independence Day fireworks at the Fairgrounds. Their ban followed a shooting incident in the late afternoon of July 4, 1988 near the grandstands where the fireworks show was scheduled to begin an hour later. Some in the area started tossing their own illegal fireworks into the crowd. Fair-goers quickly fled through the exits. Sheriff's deputies closed the Fairgrounds and canceled that night's fireworks, a decision that still stands with earlier closing times now a standard.

Since then, the Fair board and General Manager Rick Pickering have relented a bit, keeping this year's Fair open until 8 p.m. and instituting fireworks at the race track on opening day, when crowds are thinner. But Pickering told the City Council that while he enjoyed the fireworks just like everyone else, the Fair board can't bring them back - or move them to July 4 - because the board's insurance carrier won't provide coverage of the event unless Plummer and his sheriff's deputies give their blessing. That's unlikely, Pickering said, because law enforcement officials were becoming concerned long before the 1988 shooting incident as increased numbers of gang members and undesirable persons from as far away as Stockton, Pittsburgh, Richmond and Oakland came to the Fair late in the day, causing intense crowding and occasional rowdiness. Officials believe the shooting incident was a predictable outcome of those conditions. Pickering also said that many have vivid and long memories of the 1988 troubles, which he believes is the primary reason that attendance on July 4 is still weak.

Whether you went to the Fair on July 4 or not, before fireworks were canceled at the Fairgrounds, you could watch the thrilling displays from many vantage points - along Rose Avenue, on the hills on Bernal Avenue, from Castlewood and the Ridgeland, event from Pleasanton Avenue and nearby neighborhoods. That's why Kummer has led the search for alternative locations in a city that has few large open areas left. The chief organizer of last year's popular Bernal Block Party, Kummer has suggested holding a city-sponsored public fireworks event on the undeveloped Bernal property or adjacent to the Dublin San Ramon Services District. But police and fire department authorities have rejected those locations because they are close to homes, trees and other vegetation, or too close to I-680 where motorists might stop to watch the show.

Since the Fairgrounds grandstands and race track still seem to be the preferred location for an Independence Day celebration, what about closing the Fair at 6 p.m. as before or earlier, and then reopening the grounds only for the fireworks show at 8 p.m.? Pickering could even charge admission and Sheriff Plummer would likely have a much more civil crowd to patrol. With the council already searching for alternatives to restore the fireworks celebration on July 4, it might join in paying for the pyrotechnics that can cost up to $70,000 for the entire show. Besides bringing fireworks back to Pleasanton, a revived Fairgrounds show would keep thousands of cars off the freeways and the streets of neighboring towns, something the sheriff's deputies and state and local police would probably like, too. It's worth a try.

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