Angle Lake Fireworks: the End of an Era?

For as long as anyone on the lake can remember, Angle Lake has always had fireworks every 4th of July. This article delves into the rich history (albeit brief telling) of this community tradition, from its humble beginnings to a potential uncertain future. 

From Backyard Celebration to Community Spectacle

In the way early days, when there were few homes, consisting mostly of summer cabins, many around the lake would produce their own personal 4th of July fireworks displays. 

With the formation of the Shore Club in 1933, leaders from the organization would go door to door collecting donations for a common, community show. One founding member, the late Bud Jones, shared his recollection of the early days. On Independence Day, after gathering donations, he together with a couple neighbors and a gaggle of kids would load up in his pickup truck and head to the reservation to purchase as many firework products as the money collected would buy. They would then return to set off the fireworks in the evening – also recalling that the product had much shorter fuses than today and mildly complained of singed ankles! 

In later years, Jones explained that the State implemented legislation that required licensed pyrotechnicians to perform detonation of fireworks. Bud then decided he’d get a license… the problem was, he failed the test on several attempts. So, the year following the new ruling a pyrotechnic was hired to help produce the show – however, according to Jones, they sent a girl who didn’t have a clue what she was doing so he suggested that she step aside to supervise while he proceeded to set off the charges. 

Another long-term resident, Shirley Stevens (raised from a small child on the north end of Angle Lake), recalled that the community wanted to keep the fireworks show to themselves, keeping county and eventually city government out of it in fear that they would take over the display, reducing community pride in producing their own display. But over time as huge crowds continued to gather at the public park and the products and supporting vendor contracts became more expensive, it was decided that it was only fair for local government to start chipping in on a show that the public was benefiting from, as well. 

A Collaborative Effort

After much repeated wrangling the council at the time agreed to support the show with a nominal contribution of $2,500. This continued for several years until Lonnie Goulet took over as president. Always one to make improvements where opportunity exists, he was determined to make the show bigger and better, producing a larger show provided a much-improved visual experience for the thousands now gathering in the park. Year over year, Lonnie and others from the community delivered public comments to the council justifying an increased spend and each year were faced with resistance but where eventually granted more funds, ultimately reaching as high as $10,000 annual many years later. 

This continued well until such time that the show outgrew the capabilities of the single vendor able to provide a launch platform to produce displays from the center of the lake, ultimately it was decided that the contractor had to go and was fired as a result. The city then stepped in to host a show from the docks located at the public park. This filled the gap but was considered inadequate because the significant safety clearance area required a third of the park to be closed off from public access, which included the entire beach, and produced a much smaller display overall. 

The solution, Goulet suggested that the club members come together to pool private member donations to build their own platform. Local fire officials advised that 1,600 sq feet surface area would be necessary to launch from (which included an onboard manned boom shack for pyrotechnicians to operate from). The result is that club resources, with matching funds from 5 identified ‘owners’ would produce a total of seven 10’ by 24’ barges (240sqft valued at over $10,000 each) to operate as interconnecting platforms to meet the space requirements necessary. The club completed this task in just over a years’ time. 

Once complete, the city agreed to return the show to a center lake location, allowing for a display nearly three times as large as the dockside show and allowing the park, in its entirety, to reopen to public access. This worked well… until Covid hit. 

The plan before Covid was to produce a never-before-seen display on Angle Lake to celebrate the thirtieth-year anniversary of the city’s incorporation. With remote firing capabilities, the idea was to launch from 3 individual locations around the lake – North Leg firing smaller 3” shells and cakes, Center Lake consisting of our typical 6” shells and cakes, whereas the Western Leg would fire 8” shells. With the pandemic shut down, the city celebration passed without fanfare, but when the fireworks returned in 2022, the club set forth with the plan – the city providing almost 2/3 funding with the club supplying the rest including in-kind material use and labor to produce the show. This resulted in an amazing experience for all who witnessed it.

An Unforeseen Turn of Events

Fast forward to 2024. As a result of a single resident sighting a complaint against the annual outboard motor boat and hydroplane races, referring to a 1930’s supreme court ruling which stated ‘a single resident/property owner could not restrict or incumber another owners use of their property’ – at the time of the early 20th century ruling it was considered that Angle Lake was non-navigable waters and therefore, the adjacent property owners had rights beyond the high water mark and out to the center of the lake. The claim then was that restricted use of the surface waters to support the boat races prohibited property owners’ rights. The city interpreted this as a risk and as a result not only determined that park use supporting boat racing would be denied, but also that Fireworks, Open Water Swim Races, Organized Sailboat Races and any other activities requiring a restricted course or area would also be unsupported. 

The complainant’s intent was to shut down the annual boat racing event, but the unintended consequences impacted the fireworks, as well. The city would not risk any potential lawsuit brought forth due to supporting a restricted surface lake use in any way and determined that an Electronic Lighted Drone Show would be a better solution. This display is said to not require restricting lake surface use and impacts a much smaller portion of the public park area than a firework display from the docks requires. 

The Future: Uncertain But Not Hopeless

To Lonnie Goulet’s credit an account consisting of excess fireworks donations over the years were accumulated into a reserve fund in anticipation of a day when the city would pull out of the standing public-private partnership. That day has come. 

As a result of the city’s decision to pull out and produce their own drone show, the Shore Club Executive Board and Volunteers determined that a ‘final show’ would be produced in 2024 using the targeted fireworks reserve funds. A single combined platform will again be positioned at the center of the lake (elbow) for all to see.

Is this the final show? A few major challenges exist for producing future fireworks displays. One challenge is the eventual loss of the Angle Lake RV Park property use for load in and staging operations and the other is that our current vendor has stated that it requires no less than a $25,000 contract to produce a display – and this minimum is expected to rise year over year as inflation continues. Unless additional funding sources can be secured (City Partnership, Title Sponsorship) $25k is a lot for one neighborhood to come up with each year. 

The future of Angle Lake's fireworks is uncertain, but the community's spirit and history of innovation offer hope. Can the tradition continue? Only time will tell.