Plans coming together for Fourth of July celebration at airport
COSHOCTON – When the Coshocton Airport Amphitheater Board realized the community might not have a Fourth of July celebration it jumped at the opportunity to help.
“We felt there might be a lack of it (a celebration) with the Towne Center Association folding and that we might be an alternate location if there wasn’t another association to pick it up and run with it,” said Shane Pyle, who is an airport amphitheater board member. “The first thing we did was contact Dean Hettinger who coordinates fireworks to see if we could do it. He was more than enthusiastic with our layout and felt the airport would create optimal viewing. We decided to run with it and feel it will be a great event to help get people to come to the airport and the amphitheater.”
The fun will start at 6 p.m. on Saturday, July 4, with a concert by the Coshocton Community Band and then the featured group, Parrots of the Caribbean, a Jimmy Buffett cover band, will take the stage.
“This band should appeal to a wide range of people,” Pyle said. “We also will have vendors here selling food and other things. It will be a picnic, family togetherness kind of evening.”
The fireworks will then start after sunset around 10 or 10:15 p.m.
“We’ve increased the size of the fireworks by 50 percent,” Pyle said. “They are going to be bigger and longer than last year. It will be a really good show.”
The event is free to the public, but buckets will be circulated around for contributions to the amphitheater, the Wounded Warrior Project and the veterans Honor Flight.
“We wouldn’t have a Fourth of July without our veterans,” Pyle said.
The Coshocton Airport Amphitheater Board set a base goal of needing to raise $19,000 to cover expenses for the event and is happy to report it already has about $13,000 of that money.
“We are $6,000 shy and are asking business and individuals to contribute,” Pyle said. “With four weeks left to go we feel we can hit our goal and have excess to give to veterans and the amphitheater.”
Donations can be mailed to P.O. Box 141, Coshocton, OH 43812 and checks can be made out to the Coshocton Airport Amphitheater. Money also can be contributed online at www.gofundme.com/oyaadc.
“We are tremendously thankful for everyone’s confidence in us for our first attempt to do a fireworks display,” Pyle said. “We also are thankful that they see the need to provide this type of patriotic celebration in our community and support our veterans at the same time.”
Anyone interested in being a vendor at the Fourth of July celebration, can contact Keith Krebs at the airport, 740-824-4382.
“We are expecting a good crowd,” Pyle said. “Seats will be first come first serve for the fireworks. The best ones are going to be on the airport tarmac. The fireworks will be done on the airport grounds so you will have a dead straight view and the ground fireworks will have no obstructions whatsoever. You’ll also be able to see them clear around the county, but we encourage people to come to the airport to get a really good view.”
josie@coshoctoncountybeacon.com
Category: Arts & Entertainment
