Patriotism was celebrated brightly in Gilroy on the Fourth of July.
Between residents who got their kicks from “Safe and Sane” firecrackers and the evening display held at Gilroy High School, the town was in no short supply of festive explosives for the holiday.
Into the late hours of Independence Day, sales were booming at the Gilroy Police Officers Association’s fireworks stand on Church Street. The stand – one of 16 up and running in the Garlic Capital – was manned primarily by police officers and their spouses, according to GPD Detective Robert Basuino.
“The money we raise goes right back into the community,” Basuino said. “In past years, the Association has donated around $5,000 to $8,000 to organizations within the city.”
The nonprofit vendors keep 30 percent of sales and the other 70 percent goes to the fireworks distributor. Even after that, most booths make a significant profit from their four days of fireworks sales.
Soccer leagues, Gilroy High School, Christopher High School, the Avon Walk For Breast Cancer and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team In Training are a just a few of the organizations the Gilroy Police Officer’s Association has donated its profits to in previous years.
Basuino said that sales were constant every day since they opened up shop Monday, July 1, and that fireworks could only be legally purchased and set off from July 1 through midnight of July 4.
A handful of locals took full advantage of that window according to Christina Villarreal, office assistant for Public Works with City of Gilroy. Villarreal said the City issued permits to nine people who requested to have their streets legally blocked for Fourth of July parties.
In addition to the Gilroy Police Officers Association, Gilroy Pop Warner Football was another one of the 16 community groups that had a permit for a fireworks stand.
Mike Hubbard, a parent of two children involved with Pop Warner, volunteered at the booth.
“The money we raise goes straight into the program for uniforms, equipment and scholarships for the underprivileged,” Hubbard said.
Hubbard said he is personally a big supporter of Pop Warner and appreciates the lessons beyond football and cheerleading it imparts to children who are involved in the program.
“Pop Warner teaches the kids about commitment and teamwork,” Hubbard said. “They learn a lot about their community and also how to be academically successful.”
This year, fireworks restrictions flyers were mailed out to 18,000 Gilroy addresses, informing residents of the potential consequences if they didn’t abide by the City’s rules. People who were caught using fireworks illegally were issued a misdemeanor with a $1,000 penalty or an administrative citation of $250, depending on the circumstance.
“Five misdemeanor citations were issued under the Health and Safety Code and anywhere between 20 and 27 administrative citations were issued,” GPD Records Supervisor David Boles said.
Informational flyers defining “illegal use” were also handed out to everyone who purchased fireworks from local volunteer vendors. Locals were only allowed to purchase and use Safe and Sane fireworks, which have a state fire marshal approval stamp on them and do not leave the ground or explode.
“Aerial fireworks are illegal. We sell fireworks that do not leave the ground like small fountains and half-inch sparklers,” Basuino said.
Vendors checked buyers’ proof of residence to make sure they were Gilroy residents and planning to set off their sparklers locally. Residents could not purchase fireworks in Gilroy and set them off in any other town in the Santa Clara County. Vendors were warned that their permits would be revoked and their booth would be closed if they knowingly sold fireworks to out of town persons.
The Safe and Sane fireworks were prohibited from being used at the public fireworks display, which began at 9:40 p.m. at the Gilroy High School baseball field. Cars started to fill the streets around 10th and Uvas Park Drive long before the fireworks were launched, however.
“Every year the baseball field gets really busy and we see people set up across the way at Christmas Hill Park,” City Recreation Supervisor Sandra Sammut said. “Anyone who attends should try to be seated and ready at least an hour prior to the time the fireworks are launched”.
Sammut said some families decided to make a day out of it by setting up a picnic on the baseball field in the early afternoon and then staying there until the fireworks were set off at night. Approximately 418 fireworks were launched this year and came from Pyro Spectaculars, according to Sammut.
“There’s not too many fireworks displays still in existence anymore so we had people coming from all over,” Sammut said.
