Maybe you’ve seen them.
Fireworks booths are opening shop all over Hollister this week,
selling sparklers, fountains, tree spinners and more until
Independence Day.
Hollister – Maybe you’ve seen them.
Fireworks booths are opening shop all over Hollister this week, selling sparklers, fountains, tree spinners and more until Independence Day.
Twelve nonprofit organizations will run the booths, which for many organizations is their biggest fundraiser of the year, according to American Promotional Events Sales Representative Joann Della Mattiore. APE
Prices range from 50 cents for individual items to $400 for large assortment packs.
Pastor Robert Rufener is in charge of selling fireworks for the Abundant Life Foursquare Church on Bolsa Road. Proceeds from this weekend’s sales will be used to create a new youth center for ministry and after school activities Rufener said.
“There are a lot of young people in our community that need help and guidance,” Rufener said. “Our church feels that this is very important.”
Rufener said that the church has sold fireworks for the last 16 years because the financial risk is low and a lot of money can be raised quickly. He said the church hopes to raise $8,000 to $9,000 this weekend.
Without the fireworks sales each year, Rufener said it would very difficult for his church to raise as much.
The Hollister Exchange Club will also have a booth again this year at the Hillside Christian Fellowship Church on San Felipe Road.
The club, which has been selling fireworks in the city for more than 20 years, has been actively involved in the community for decades and donates more than $40,000 every year to local organizations and charities, including boy and girl scouts, the YMCA and local battered women shelters.
“Our thing is to promote Americanism and volunteerism,” said club president-elect David Ortiz.
He hopes to bring in more money than last year, but sales so far have been sluggish.
Little League Baseball Fundraising Coordinator Karen Achen hopes to raise $25,000 to $30,000 this year by selling fireworks, she said. The money will be used to keep the league’s two baseball diamonds at Veterans Memorial Park in excellent condition.
Achen said this is the first year her booth has accepted major credit cards and hopes this will help increase sales. The fields, which are two of the nicest in area, need constant attention and care, Achen said.
“We put a lot of work into those fields and we want to maintain them,” Achen said. “It takes a lot of work and a lot of money to keep them in good condition and it really makes a difference.”
Fire Marshal Michael O’Connor is not worried about the booths selling legal fireworks.
“The Fire Department is not extremely worried about the Safe and Sane fireworks,” O’Connor said. “Were worried about mortars and other class B fireworks that were bought out of state.”
The fire department has staffed an extra fire engine for the Independence Rally and fireworks celebration, but O’Connor said the department was not expecting any problems this year.
Last year illegal fireworks caused a spattering of fires around the county. Over 100 calls about illegal fireworks were handled by the Hollister Fire Department on the day of the Fourth last year alone.
The fire department recorded six fires started by illegal fireworks in the city last year, all of them small grass fires with no major structural damage. A handful of citations were given but no arrests were made, said O’Connor last July.
“It’s going to be busy,” O’Connor said. “This weekend has the most potential for a catastrophic fire.”
Brett Rowland covers education for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or br******@fr***********.com.
