Future Fireworks Displays Unlikely in the City of Saline

Fireworks displays within the City of Saline are not an option anytime in the foreseeable future. At its February 12, 2024, meeting, Saline City Council voted to dissolve the Fireworks Planning Committee established following a July 2022 request by Mayor Brian Marl.

In a memo to the council and City Manager Colleen O’Toole, Councilmember and Mayor Pro-Tem Janet Dillon said, “After City Staff’s preliminary review of costs and other associated resources required to provide a safe event, their opinion is the City can not provide adequate staffing or financial resources to support a fireworks event at this time.”

According to Ms. Dillon, an estimate of direct expenses for a fireworks display was approximately $35,000, based on a previous fireworks event in 2021. That estimate does not include any indirect expenses the city would incur in the form of personnel and services needed to support the event.

Outside of direct or indirect costs, and perhaps more importantly, no location within the City of Saline is suitable for hosting a fireworks display.

“In 2016 the City of Saline chose to include a fireworks display as a part of its Sesquicentennial celebration. Wolverine Fireworks Display was the vendor contracted to perform the pyrotechnics. At the outset, an in person City-wide exploration was conducted to establish the most conducive and safe location for a fireworks display. Several locations were visited. Topography, blast zone perimeter, and proximately [sic] to residential and medical facilities were a part of the criteria. Each had challenges which excluded them from consideration. Crabtree Field/Liberty School campus was deemed the most viable area,” said Dillon, in a follow-up email to STN.

However, things have changed since 2016. “...due to pending redevelopment of the Liberty School campus previously used for fireworks, Saline Schools Executive Director of Operations has indicated they can no longer accommodate such an event at that location. Accordingly, there is no longer a sufficient space within the Saline City limits to meet the requirements,” the memo read.