Sawmill Square continues fireworks show under new leadership

LAUREL, Miss. (WDAM) - Laurel was the place to be Saturday to celebrate Independence Day.

Sawmill Square Mall held the 8th annual “Bash at the Mall” as well as its annual fireworks show, which has been a staple in Laurel for decades.

“We have tents in the back with face painting, henna tattoos and we have Kona Ice in the back,” said Regina Higgenbotham, new manager of Sawmill Square Mall. “Our regular merchants are open, we have lots of food, our cinema is open and showing movies and we’re enjoying BIG right now.”

This is the first year Higgenbotham has had to put together the Independence Day celebration.

While it may be a daunting task to take over a popular event, she said she’s had a lot of help along the way.

“Bill McMullen did a great job,” Higgenbotham said. “He left me with a lot of great information. Then, I reached out to some additional people who were willing to come on board with us and make this event a bit bigger and better.

“Hopefully, next year, we’ll add to what we have this year and it’ll include more people.”

After the music wrapped up inside the mall, people made their way outside to see the night sky light up.

For the second night in a row, pop-up showers did not slow down Pine Belters from celebrating our country’s independence.

“We have the best fireworks in the state,” said Higgenbotham. “We have the biggest fireworks show. We have a great pyro technician company, Artisan Firework, that do our fireworks every year and they just do a great job.”

For those who could not make it to the event, the fireworks were livestreamed on Facebook.

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