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Community Fireworks show set for Oct. 30 in Albion

There will be more bucks for the bang in this year’s community fireworks, which are now just a week away.
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There will be a $10

There will be more bucks for the bang in this year’s community fireworks, which are now just a week away.

The size of the show has varied over the years, depending on money available. For the 10th anniversary of the event, a corporate sponsor has stepped up to help light up the sky over Albion.

Marv Jones Honda is putting up $5,000 for the show this year, adding to equal $2,500 contributions by the District of Maple Ridge and the Lions Club.

That allows for a $10,000 show with the right amount of wow factor, said Lions club member Kim Kamstra, who has been one of the organizers for the past seven years.

He said the conditions are right for another good night on Halloween Eve.

“Weather predictions are great, and it has always been a good community event,” said Kamstra.

Kamstra gave a nod to Marv Jones, saying, “We need some help to pull this off.”

Fireworks bylaws have curbed the number of individual Halloween block parties with fireworks, so the municipality and the Maple Ridge Fire Department saw a need for a community display. For the past decade it has been done in conjunction with the Ghost Ridge haunted house for charity.

Kamstra said the need for fireworks safety was underlined in August, when teens carelessly using fireworks caused a fire that resulted in two Maple Ridge houses being burned down.

Since 2005, the sale, purchase and lighting of fireworks in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows has been restricted to individuals who hold a certificate from Natural Resources Canada’s Explosives Regulatory Division. The course costs $100. The fireworks bylaw allows RCMP, bylaws officials and firefighters to ticket offenders with fines of $1,000 for selling fireworks and $200 for setting them off without a permit.

The community fireworks will be held at the Albion Fairgrounds, 23448 – 105th Avenue, on Oct. 30, beginning at 7 p.m.



Neil Corbett

About the Author: Neil Corbett

I have been a journalist for more than 30 years, the past decade with the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows News.
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