Letter To The Editor: Biggest 4th Of July Thanks Ever!

By STEVE BOERIGTER
Kiwanis 4th of July Celebration Chair

The 2016 4th of July Celebration at Overlook Park was the best ever. A good rain a few days earlier led to clear skies and green fields. While we had some brief periods of wind in earlier evening, the sky settled down for a great show. Seeing the skydivers, especially the big flag as the sun was setting was spectacular. Sim Balkey had a huge crowd dancing on the field. Based upon our unofficial receipts, this was the biggest Independence Day Celebration in Los Alamos history. Probably the single biggest Los Alamos community event ever!

While the dedication of fireworks team in Kiwanis might be obvious, much of the community is behind the event long before the first BBQ, football toss, or glowstick. We would like to thank our major sponsor, Los Alamos National Bank. LANB has been a major partner with the Kiwanis Club for more than two decades. Thank you to Franks Supply for donating the quiet and powerful generator that kept the Bouncy Toys going all day. We appreciate all our vendors for keeping the crowd nourished and refreshed. Next time you see them at Ashley Pond remember to say “thanks”. A special thank you goes to the Los Alamos Holiday Inn Express for supplying lodging for the Ton-O-Fun crew. The Community Winds gave us classic Independence Day music.

We think we might have stuffed 8,000+ people into Overlook Park. That wouldn’t happen without the major efforts from the Los Alamos County and Public Safety. Special thanks goes to Dan Erickson who coordinated all County efforts – and they were considerable! Traffic Division kept everyone moving better than ever before and Atomic City Transit got us in and out of the park with ease. Super special thanks to the Overlook Park team: Ray Villalobos and the rest of the staff from Parks Division. LA Police was able to help many and the Fire Department once again showed off the biggest flag ever seen in Northern New Mexico. Finally, thank you all the dedicated Kiwanians for your time and energy.  You continually demonstrate your dedication to the people of Los Alamos and the community of Northern New Mexico. You make this event possible.

The biggest thanks of all goes to you – the community. You make this a wonderful place to live. You help keep this and many other events going through your donations. You make it fun to get together and just celebrate life in America. The Kiwanis Club of Los Alamos hopes you will make plans now to be at Overlook next year. We’ll have a fantastic fireworks display. But we know that’s not why we celebrate the 4th of July. We live in America – and that’s worth celebrating.

Search
LOS ALAMOS

ladailypost.com website support locally by OviNuppi Systems