‘Let freedom ring’: Thousands gather for Erie fireworks
Light rain and ominous cloud cover wasn’t enough to deter the crowd of patriotic revelers Sunday at Erie Community Park. Even before the rooftop fireworks show started at 9:30 p.m., the sun setting over Longs Peak cast a rainbow to the east.
Music, food trucks and a recent $7 million investment in the park brought folks from throughout the Front Range, and it was hard to look in any direction and see anything but smiles.
Lacey Hays and her family arrived early, intent on having the best seat, or couch, in the house.
“We got here at 4:45 (p.m.), and started blowing up the couch,” said Hays, explaining the inflatable couch that was the centerpiece of their picnic spot and the epitome of comfort and pre-planning. “It feels great to feel like we’re getting back to normal, to throw a football around, and be in a community, even though we’re not from here,” said Hays, a Golden resident.
A pod of food trucks were stationed in an east parking lot, offering everything from tacos to a do-it-yourself snow cone station.
Big Wheel Beverages gave the thirsty and brave a chance to chase their refreshment in a huge Rube Goldberg-inspired contraption. Part oversized hamster wheel and a system of cranks and levers, 5-year-old Gavin Rodriguez ran hard in the wheel while the ice was crushed and dispensed into a paper cup. After pressing a plunger with some watermelon flavoring, the Arvada youngster was speechless but all smiles, slurping up the sugary treat while he watched his 3-year-old sister give it a try.
Under the park’s new picnic pavilion it was a big party, with burgers and hot dogs being grilled, and a battle for the best of the worst patriotic tank tops was underway amongst friends and Erie residents Shane Ewing, Phillip Jackson, Aaron Werley and Casey Clement.
Clement, a mortgage lender and the evening’s grillmaster, was this year’s frontrunner in a bold tank top with a torso-sized bald eagle.
“He wins for best tank top and smallest biceps,” teased Werley.
The pavilion spot was snagged in a raffle offered by the city earlier in the season, explained Parks and Recreation Director Patrick Hammer.
Sunday’s show, which cost $50,000 to put on, according to Hammer, was the second year in a row the pyrotechnics were launched from the roof of the Erie Community Center. With an abundance of greenery and plenty of fire department personnel positioned around the perimeter of the park, Hammer said the decision to go on with the show in the face of drought-like conditions was made with care and deliberation from multiple agencies.
“This is the marquee event for this park,” Hammer said. “We’re grateful to everyone here.”
As the well-behaved crowd grew steadily into the evening, from a few hundred to a few thousand, Erie Police Chief Kimberly Stewart had no complaints as she watched folks kicking soccer balls, sharing food and getting chairs in place.
“Our biggest issue tonight has been a few raindrops,” Stewart said. “This is what the park is for, and this is how we do it on the third. Let freedom ring.”
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