Mayor announces “RVA Fireworks on the James” festivities
Mayor Dwight C. Jones, Dominion CEO Thomas Farrell, and MWV CEO John A. Luke addressed a small crowd on an overcast late morning to announce the upcoming “RVA Fireworks on the James.” The event will be held at Belle Isle in Downtown Richmond on July 3, 2011, and will be billed as “Patriotic Family Fun.”
Mayor Dwight C. Jones, Dominion CEO Thomas Farrell, and MWV CEO John A. Luke addressed a small crowd on an overcast late morning to announce the upcoming “RVA Fireworks on the James.” The event will be held at Brown’s Island in Downtown Richmond on July 3, 2011, and will be billed as “Patriotic Family Fun.”
Fortune 500 companies Dominion and MWV (MeadWestvaco) are sponsoring the event as part of the city’s broader 4th of July festivities. “We wanted to be part of a very special environment,” said John A. Luke, adding that Brown’s Island, location of the fireworks display, is a “very special place.” The city will contribute no cost to the particular event; Dominion and MWV are underwriting all costs.
“The [James] River is still under served,” said Thomas Farrell, whose company, Dominion, is headquartered in the Downtown area, as is MWV. “The James River geographically divides our city and region. On July 3, it will bring together tens of thousands of people from across our region to celebrate 235 years of our nation’s independence.” He hopes that the event will become a tradition.
Grucci, a five-generation, family owned business based in New York, will provide the fireworks. They have also produced firework events for several U.S. presidential inaugurations, as well as the world’s largest fireworks program ever produced for the grand opening of Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah. “That big,” said Ferrell of the event, which will likely be the largest fireworks display ever held in Virginia.
Mayor Jones said that the display “will take place on the river…with the spectacular view of our skyline.” The upcoming event will add to other notable fireworks events, such as the Flying Squirrels display at the Diamond, as well as the those of Dogwood Dell, at Byrd Park. The event is not meant to undermine these events, but rather showcase the uniqueness of the downtown area.
Local vendors will sell food and beverages. Further information can be found at fireworksonthejames.com.
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Notice: Comments that are not conducive to an interesting and thoughtful conversation may be removed at the editor’s discretion.
Um, as currently written and proposed by Charles Samuels, this event will break the law for acceptable noise levels in the city. Sorry Richmond; you’ll just have to celebrate the birth of the nation somewhere else…
Chris, you know as well as I do that that’s a red herring argument since officially sanctioned events will be exempted from the noise ordinance.
However, I will go ahead and look Dominion’s gift horse in the mouth and say do we really want it exempted? Fireworks are not environmentally friendly and I question if this is really something that should happen within or so near the James River Park system.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/07/fireworks-perchlorate-poison.php
Does this mean RPD will finally enforce the restriction of discharging firearms in the city limits and noise ordinance on New Year’s eve as my drunk F&^#% &^#**&^$* neighbors try to kill us?
Can’t wait. It’s going to be a blast!