2A, Celebrating Arden Hills City Festival Follow-Up

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• Downsize the caliber size of some of the fireworks. This can be done by reducing the amount of money spent on the display or increasing the smaller caliber size fireworks to replace the larger caliber fireworks. The smaller caliber fireworks (4 inch) do not travel as far and are not as large. • Work with Northwestern College to inquire about having fireworks shot off from their island. Northwestern College was approached in the past with this request and was not in favor of the display on their campus. Staff contacted Northwestern College to discuss this option and they are currently considering the request. Their biggest concern is having fireworks on a Saturday night when they have weddings on campus. They indicated they would get back to the City with an answer by the end of November. The safety zone that would be needed would not affect any of the Tony Schmidt park area or residents. The best viewing area would be along the shore, the beach or on the lake. The audience viewing area would be quite a bit farther away (2,700 feet) than the current location at Tony Schmidt. See attached aerials. • The City could invest in building barges that allow the fireworks to be shot off from the lake. The fireworks company indicates that they would need a floating dock area of approximately 1,000-1,200 feet. In addition,they would need a boat to fire the display remote. The floating dock anchors would need to be set at the bottom of the lake to secure the platform. Someone (fireworks company does not provide this service) would need to secure the barges to the anchors before the show and remove them when complete. The City would need to find a way to store these barges throughout the year. In addition, the safety zone (350 feet) would restrict boat traffic from the time the explosives were on site (Usually 6-8 hours before the event). • Eliminate fireworks. Discussion Cummings Park has the facilities to handle concerts and movies in the park. One idea could be to hold a series of 2-3 movies/concerts throughout the summer in the park and have an end of the season EITHER movie night or concert at Tony Schmidt Regional Park with a fireworks display to cap the evening. In order to offer that at Tony Schmidt Regional Park, it would add just over $500 to the cost of the event for the park permit. Staffing would be minimal for the Cummings Park events and the finale night at Tony Schmidt would take a few more Public Works staff for set up, take down and managing the safety zone. Fireworks: $7,500 Concert/Movie series (2 movies/2 concerts): $5,000 Park Permit for finale night: $500 Approximate cost of series with finale fireworks night: $13,000 Approximate cost of series with NO fireworks: $5,000 Advertising could be handled with press releases, flyers to Recreation participants and email blasts of current participants. Sponsorships could be challenging for these types of events versus an annual event. 3