For 4th Year in a Row, Flagler Beach Will Have No July 4 Fireworks

Nor will there be a laser-light show, or a drones show, two unwieldy or expensive options the city considered. But there will be better-funded entertainment downtown to keep the celebration from being just “a drunk day at the beach” as it has been in the past, in the words of City Clerk Penny Overstreet.

City commissioners agreed to somehow join forces with Flagler County and Palm Coast governments in their joint Fireworks Over the Runways venture at the county airport. Last year’s edition there drew thousands and featured large-caliber fireworks that light up the sky for miles and make timpanis of ear drums.

Last year the city could have had a show, but the manager at the time failed to coordinate with Fireworks by Santore, the city’s usual vendor, to line up the event. After numerous attempts to salvage it, including serious doubts about a potential fireworks vendor who’d substitute for Santore, the commission elected to drop the whole effort. It was a turning point in City Manager William Whitson’s tenure. he never recovered, and was fired earlier this month.

In December Whitson had asked City Clerk Penny Overstreet to issue a bid package seeking proposals for a fireworks show, a laser/light show or a drone show. The request was not advertised, but was rather sent directly to 13 vendors–10 for fireworks, two for drone shows and one for a laser show. None responded by the time the bidding window closed on Jan. 30.




So the city contacted vendors directly, and drew out two proposals, one from Master Pyro Displays and one from North Florida Pyrotechnics. Both were proposing to set off “low-level fireworks” that could be set off from the remaining portion of the pier closest to the shore. The rest of the pier has been condemned, and will soon be demolished.

“I learned that the low-level fireworks are a ‘Class C’ firework, which is what you or I could purchase at
Phantom or Sam’s,” Overstreet told the commission in a memo. “The two proposers where offering a ‘Class C Professional,’ which I understood to have a bit more pizazz that those regular consumers could buy. One proposer claims his product has zero fall-out. Needless to say, the low level show would not be what attendees would expect but the effort was put forth to have a show within the constraints we faced.”

The city considered having its fireworks show over the Intracoastal or at its golf course at the south end of town. But neither option provided for the 500-foot radius required for a fallout zone, away from spectators. Setting them off from a barge would be impractical, and the city’s safety officers (the fire and police chiefs) did not sign off on any of the plans.

“To further add issues to this, the day that Mr. Whitson was terminated, he had met with Flagler County and Palm Coast at their monthly managers’ meeting and was discussing the county and Palm Coast’s joint venture for a fireworks show at the airport. He wasn’t provided the opportunity to report that back to you at our meeting that night.”




Palm Coast and county governments will again hold a Fireworks Over the Runways show at the county airport this year. It will be “a more scaled-down version,” a Palm Coast spokesperson said. “More picnic-style than last year’s heavily vendored event, though there will be some food trucks and vendors available.” The fireworks show will still be around 20 minutes. Funding has not been finalized.

The planned airport show “worsens our situation as it takes away the resources that the safety officers need to hold fireworks” in Flagler Beach, Overstreet said. Last year the Sheriff’s Office and other agencies and volunteers who participated in coordinating the traditional fireworks show in the city in previous years warned that their resources could not handle a show there and at the airport in the same 24 to 48-hour span.

That left the city with replicating last year’s July 4 schedule: hosting the Rotary-organized parade down State Road A1A, handing over the day’s entertainment to Vern Shanks, who also organizes the monthly First Friday festivities, with entertainment shows in the park.

The city has $25,000 budgeted for fireworks, and $7,000 budgeted for portable toilets and for bus shuttle service from the mainland to the barrier island. Whitson had considered giving $10,000 to the county or the city to have Flagler Beach included in the airport show’s promotional material.

“Our residents will go to the fireworks whether our logo is on promotional materials or not,” Commissioner Jane Mealy said, questioning the steep cost of the sponsorship. Mayor Suzy Johnston said in her discussions with County Administrator Heidi Petito, the idea is to “bundle” all Independence Day events together–cities and the county–into a “true, county Fourth of July,” celebrating in the morning at the beach, “then come back to the airport for the fireworks.”

Overstreet had another idea, which the commissioners embraced: “The rotary does two parades for the city every year and we’ve never thrown a dime at then,” she said, referring to the Rotary’s Independence Day and Holiday parades, the latter just before Christmas. “So wouldn’t it be nice to give them some money that they in turn take out and do good things in our community with, and also Vern, maybe throw some money at him, where we could have a better band, a better entertainment, and bring families back in the park for that day and not have it a drunk day at the beach, like it has been with the fireworks.”




Commissioners were more interested in contributing money to Shanks and the Rotary, without as yet excluding a county contribution. The city will still need some of the money itself to coordinate the events. July 4 falls on a Tuesday this year.

Commissioner Eric Cooley said the city would have to “muddle through” what amounts would be contributed, leaving dollar amounts undetermined for now–whether to the county or to the individual organizations. That will be determined at a later meeting.

“The county invited us to join them, and that’s a big effort on their part and we should we should reciprocate and join,” Johnston said.

Commissioners were at the tail end of their fifth hour of a six-hour meeting Thursday evening when they took up the fireworks issue, which took all of 15 minutes. They were amazed by the quick resolution, as were Cooley and Mealy, who for the second time Thursday evening, agreed on an issue. No one had brought sparklers to mark the occasion.