Sandpoint Lions thank community for support
The members of the Sandpoint Lions Club want to thank the people of our community who devoted time and money to this year’s Independence Day celebration. All of the day’s activities, including the children’s parade and the grand parade during the morning, and the kid’s games, ice cream, music and fireworks at City Beach are paid for by the folks who buy Lions raffle tickets and by donations the club receives.
Between Lost in the ’50s and July 4, Lions Club members spent many hours selling raffle tickets to raise most of the money it takes to pay for the annual celebration. We want to thank all the people who bought those tickets, even when we often heard “I never win anything” This year’s 4 prize winners tell us that they will never say that again!
Special thanks go to the members of the Sandpoint Business Improvement District, Mr. Ben Stein, and the Idaho Forest Group for their generous cash donations. The Lions Club also thanks Papé Equipment for a great price on our first place prize, the John Deere Gator, and Schweitzer Ski Area for their generous donation of an unlimited season ski pass as one of our other prizes.
The celebration kicked off on the morning of the Fourth with the children’s parade. We had a great turnout and the smiles and high energy of all of those young people were the perfect start to a wonderful day.
The Lions Club extends a very special “thank you” to our military veterans who led the Grand Parade. We also want to thank all of the people who entered the Grand Parade and showed such creativity in bringing alive the 2014 theme of “proud to be an American.”
The volunteers who helped with the kid’s games that started at 2 p.m. at the beach get a big thank you. Anna, Wendy, Erica, Tyler and many other volunteers made the games a success. Watching the kids do the sack races and other games is a highlight of the whole day.
The one disappointment the Lions Club had with the 2014 Independence Day celebration was the shortness of the fireworks show. The Lions spent a bit more this year than last year on the fireworks show. The show was supposed to last 20 minutes but was over in about 10 minutes.
The club hires a professional company to set up and do the fireworks (they do the show for Hope and lots of other towns in the Pacific Northwest). We have met with the company to find out what happened and to make sure we have a better show next year. The company took full responsibility for the short show. They used a different system this year to set off the fireworks and it shot them all off in half the planned time. The company committed that they will not make the mistake again and promised all of us a special show next year.
Everyone who attended the Independence Day celebration also needs to thank the Sandpoint Parks and Recreation, Police, and Fire Departments and the Bonner County Sherriff’s Marine Patrol. The folks in those organizations did a great job of cleaning City Beach before and after the celebration, keeping our residents and many visitors safe, and keeping boats away from the fireworks. The best indicator of how good these folks are — we had a great celebration without a single serious accident.
The annual Independence Day celebration in Sandpoint is a special time for the members of the Sandpoint Lions Club. When we see the smiles on the faces of the all the children and visitors to our community during the parades, games, music, and fireworks, we are truly grateful that we get to do this each year.
Thanks again to everyone who made the 2014 Independence Day celebration a success.
TOM DABROWSKI
Sandpoint Lions
President
DAVE BANISTER
Sandpoint Lions
Chairman,
2014 Fourth of July