RUMFORD — Town officials are asking people attending the Fourth of July celebration not to bring their own fireworks to the Hosmer Field Athletic Complex off Route 2.
Their appeal came despite Maine’s repeal last summer of the longtime fireworks ban and a 648-397 town vote June 12 to allow personal use of fireworks in Rumford. The state allowed municipalities to propose their own ordinances for fireworks.
Sparklers are fine, but nothing else, Greg Buccina, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, said Thursday night. Safety is the primary concern due to the anticipated crowd of a few thousand people.
“At our last meeting, we decided to allow sparklers, but no fireworks of any kind will be allowed during the Fourth of July celebration on the complex,” Buccina said. “No bottle rockets, no fireworks of any kind. If you want to bring sparklers, we’ll allow that. We’re urging safety. We don’t need anybody getting hurt,” he said.
“There’s a new state law in effect that, obviously, we have to respect that, but where we’re hoping to have about 4,000 or 5,000 people on the football field and the baseball field, our decision was not to have anything flying around to endanger anybody.”
In related news, Buccina said the Fourth of July Committee’s last meeting will be Tuesday, June 26, at the Hosmer Field Complex to finalize last-minute details. Meetings are held at 6 p.m.
“We’re going to meet down at the field and set up a map of where we’re going to have all the vendors and games and all that good stuff,” he said.
Send questions/comments to the editors.