The City of Newton has rescheduled its fireworks for Saturday, August 16th. Due to the anticipated heavy rain from Hurricane Arthur, the fireworks display could not be held July 4as initially scheduled. After exploring numerous possibilities for rescheduling, the fireworks display will occur on Saturday, Aug. 16.
The Kids Morning will still take place tomorrow, Saturday, July 5th from 10:00 a.m. – noon at Newton Center Playground. The carnival and craft booths will be held tomorrow, Saturday July 5 from 1 – 8:00 p.m. at Albemarle Field.
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Aug 16 is a State holiday in Vermont — Bennington Battle Day. Just an FYI in case you get trapped into some socialist govt day.
Considering how the Battle of Bennington was fought in New York, not Vermont, I see no reason why Newton shouldn’t host Massachusetts’ biggest Battle of Bennington Celebration. Could become a new annual tradition. Reserve those hotel rooms now.
Excellent! My wife is from Bennington, VT, so I already have my Bennington Battle Flag hanging proudly on my house. Spirit of 76!
So all the other communities could reschedule them in July except Newton and Dracut (8/28)? Really?
http://www.wcvb.com/news/local/metro/4th-of-july-fireworks-dates-and-times-across-massachusetts/20691008#!8Xc7U
What a complete waste of city money. The 4th of July is over. An August 16th date is useless and has no meaningAnd will be very disruptive to the neighborhood. Most people take vacation time starting mid August.
@Colleen, admit it, there’s nothing this administration does that you like. It’s like Christmas in August and you’re Scrooge.
Colleen – If this makes the top 1000 list of your concerns or gripes, consider yourself one lucky woman.
I have to agree with Colleen that wasting several thousand dollars on a fireworks display in the middle of August is pretty silly.
I would imagine there are significant sunk costs involved, as well as contributions from donors specifically for the fireworks. And not everyone vacations in mid-August. Some of us are away every 4th of July, so this will be kind of cool for me – my first Newton fireworks after 20+ years here.
Just out of curiosity, does anyone know why they picked August 16 instead of doing it this weekend or sometime sooner?
Greg, please stop belittling me on this blog. Stop calling me names. I believe the Aug. 16th date is stupid. I don’t have to agree with your agenda for Newton. You do everyone a disservice by treating people who disagree with you in a blatantly hostile manner.
Colleen,
I think August 16 is better than NOTHING, which is what I originally thought was going to happen. While I agree, July 5 or 6 would have been better, having it August 16 is better than nothing. I have already put it on the calendar, and scheduled for friends to meet us there, so we can have a picnic and enjoy the night. I hope the concert will still happen, but really, this is better than nothing.
Yes, it is vacation season, however, not all families take weeks off in August, and go away. We are here for the summer, and it is a nice treat for those of us that “weekend” in Newton.
I get the impression that the August 16th date may have been the most convenient for the pyrotechnicians; is that plausible?
And I would second Colleen’s most recent comment – I’m not sure why Greg had to call her a “Scrooge” for questioning the postponement of the 4th of July celebration to some random date.
I’m new to town, and relatively new to this blog so I’m not familiar with the background politics, but every once in a while I read some comments by Greg that make me step back and ask, “Wow, where the heck did that come from?” The Scrooge comment above is one. There were also some really awful, personalized posts against Tom Sheff a while back as well. I’ve really got no idea who Tom Sheff is, and apparently he was running for mayor so he was a public figure, but some of Greg’s posts were quite discomfiting to read.
I mostly come to this blog for the posts about parks, cycling paths, and public transport, so maybe I should just stick to reading those posts instead. At any rate, it’s a great site.
@Michael: At the risk of reopening the Tom Sheff can of worms, you’re right he was/is a public figure who was running for mayor as a small business owner. (Now he’s running for Governor’s Council. Previously he’s run for alderman) Tom took offense when I questioned him about the fact that the business he alleged he ran appeared to be dormant. I have no regrets for calling him out on that. I was sorry Tom took it personally, I’ve long considered him to be a friend.
As for Colleen, questioning my comment is justified. I should have found a better way to say it. However, if it wasn’t too late, I’d bet you a dollar that if the city had not rescheduled this event, she likely would have posted a comment saying, something along the lines of, “I can’t believe they couldn’t find one night between now and the end of the summer to reschedule this. How unfortunate for the people of the neighborhood who look forward to this.”
I really don’t get why the City of Newton was unable to get its fireworks rescheduled for this past weekend like every other city and town around us. Ridiculous…. That said…any excuse for fireworks and happy families and friends picnic-ing on a summer’s evening sounds great to me!! Sadly, we will be away that weekend but I am glad that others will be able to partake of the fun.
I think August 16 is great and a novelty for that time of the summer. There are already enough fireworks popping off on the 4th. It’s like all the cakes, cookies, parties and other goodies that gush out at the Yuletide. Too much all at once. Maybe we should make mid August a permanent major summer get together “Newton Summer Fest” with fireworks. The 16th also happens to be the birthday of Saint Stephen the Great of Hungary. What better reason to celebrate.
A couple of points on Newton Fireworks.
The city does not actually pay for the fireworks. Newton Pride will fund raise over the year to pay for the display.
My understanding is that the pyrotechnician is a Newton resident who was booked over the extended weekend and could not reschedule sooner than the 16th.
I have spoken to several people that are happy to have an extra display this summer. Who doesn’t like fireworks?
I don’t think City Hall does any fireworks arrangements. The event is funded and arranged by a non-profit.
Oops, sorry Groot.
That’s good to hear. If it’s not using any public funding other than the police overtime, etc., then I say fire away!
I could imagine there could be dozens of factors that go into a scheduling decision, including when pyrotechnician is available.
Or perhaps, when there aren’t other big weekend events in the city, like, for example, my favorite Newton event of the summer, the Mary St. Carmen Festival, July 16-20.
And how about the regional swim meets at Gath Pool on Saturdays Aug. 2 and 9? Maybe there are other sporting events scheduled on the field too?
Or perhaps, when police, fire, EMTs are available? Or the amount of time needed to let our first responders know they will be needed to work on a summer weekend? Or maybe there’s an event in neighboring communities where we’ve committed to be there require mutual aid or which would keep others from covering for us?
Etc. Etc.
Without getting involved in a war of words, I have noticed that certain personalities on the blog ARE consistently negative. Some of that is probably due to the issues they choose to comment on, some of which are probably very frustrating to their particular point of view. I’ve also noticed that occasionally the blog runners get a bit frustrated with the negativity.
And yet, with all that, we all keep on posting, complaining, etc.
Greg, stop belittling me and my positions on issues. Your words and behavior are bordering on a very unhealthy obsession.
Here’s a statement from Parks and Recs Commissioner Bob DeRubeis on why Aug. 16 was chosen as the rain date for fireworks:
Michael – Welcome to Newton! You’ll find the community to be highly engaged in very positive ways – volunteering tons of time to be on commissions or citywide committees, in the schools (what would we do without the PTOs and parent volunteers?), in the various village activities, etc.
As for the blogs, Fig basically has it right. Aside from occasional posters, we have two small subsets – the regulars who’ve been posting/lurking for years and those whom Kim once described as “the fellowship of the miserables” or something like that (Kim is another story – a real great guy). There tends to be a certain dynamic between the two groups. We tend to do okay with one another, then one day a regular poster comes home from a rough day at work or whatever and reads an angry complaint about something inconsequential like when the fireworks will be rescheduled, and s/he pops off a bit, and it turns into a major thread. Then everyone goes back to their real lives and it all simmers down. Greg runs the blog, so he gets blamed for everything. 😉
Every once in a while, we have a blog party at Mick Morgan’s (an event that’s lots of laughs) and for the most part we find we actually like one another. But remember, this is all a virtual reality and doesn’t have much to do with the real live reality in the city. Greg, I know that statement makes you unhappy, but… 🙂
@Jane. Really well said. Fig too.
And I’m not “sad” in any way with the notion that this blog is tangential to real life. In fact, I’m greatly relieved.
I’ve always been amused by that phrase “the fellowship of the miserable”. I credit it to the never-quite-beloved former Celtics coach Rick Pitino, who used it to take a shot at sports-radio callers who so despised him that they were reduced to calling in to spew venom.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPGe1idxGv8
@Steve: thanks very much for including that link to the Pitino video. In fact, it’s so good that I’m going to make it easier for folks to view by embedding it here.
I especially liked the part where he praised individuals who focus on someone like they’re the “most important person in the room” and aren’t looking over their shoulder for someone else to address. (Pitino describes them as “people who understand being positive.” ) Perhaps now Tom and Colleen will appreciate all the attention they’ve received from me over the years!
I feel fortunate to live in a country in which citizens can feel free to gripe about their public officials and anything else they like without fear of serious repercussions – or at least nothing more serious than a deep sigh and an eyeroll by one’s readers.
Our Parks and Rec Commissioner Bob DeRubeis is a very dedicated public servant so if he says this was the best he could do, I believe it. We are away every 4th of July week so this will be the first fireworks my kids have seen. I swear I did not arrange this but I am happy about the outcome.
And I feel fortunate to live in a community where people are so passionate that even a blog post about the rescheduled Independence Day fireworks generates so many comments!
Sorry to be a party pooper, but as someone with no dog in the fight, this discussion seems to have gone a bit overboard. Colleen’s only comment was that rescheduling the July 4th fireworks to August 16th seemed silly and wasteful. Greg’s response that an outright cancellation of the fireworks would have elicited the opposite response was admittedly quite funny, but entirely presumptuous and without merit. Calling her a “Scrooge” was inappropriate, and the “fellowship of the miserable” comments are way out of line, IMHO.
As for the video: if I have nine minutes to shoot, is Rick Pitino really going to show me the path to enlightenment? Tell me the truth please. (My brain still hates me for having wasted 25 minutes of my life reading Sheryl Sandberg’s insultingly stupid “Lean In” while my wife was shopping at Target.)
In an effort to change the subject, I’m trying to figure out whey they cut down all of the very old trees that surrounded the Oak Hill fire station…any thoughts?
Michael – If you think “fellowship of the miserables” and “scrooge” is out of line, then you should’ve been around for the “crackpot” pie fight. I promised Greg that I’d never bring it up again, but it seems appropriate only because we all ended up as friends in the end. As I mentioned, all of this gets worked out at Mick Morgan’s over a beer or glass of wine.
It’s hard to explain, but stick with us and you too will end up yucking it up at Mick’s with a virtual someone you thought you disagreed with on just about everything.
@Michael,
The Fire station on Dedham St (Oak Hill) is scheduled to be demolished and a new station is being built there. I imagine these tress had to go to make room for the new building.
@Jane – sounds good, I hope everyone is able to step back and get a chuckle out of the discussions at the end of the day.
@TWT – thanks for answering about Station 10. I’ve now found the architect’s drawings for the new building. I’d actually thought that the old building was going to be renovated while the station was moved to temporary quarters in Nahanton Park. It’s a bummer that they’ll demolish it, because it’s a stately-looking building that has always blended in well with the neighborhood, in my opinion. Very sad to see the old trees cut down; I wish that they could have found a way to keep them.