Chamber fireworks show deemed success

The inaugural Chamber of Commerce Independence Fest held last Saturday at Comanche Lake was a big success for the organization. Chamber president Laura Lewis, who spearheaded the effort along with chamber officers Sarah Brooks and Stephanie Woody, and chamber member Terral Rather, credited the community for making it a success.

“Saturday was a good example of how when the community works together that we can give the best opportunities to grow as a community,” Lewis said. “As the community works together, we can give back to the community in a big way.”

The afternoon started with a festival below the dam with vendors, booster clubs and businesses providing food, shopping and entertainment.

“I feel like all the vendors had a really good time,” Lewis said. “We were able to provide an opportunity for all the booster clubs to make good money and I was on the community side for the fireworks and we only heard postive things.”

The fireworks show lasted about 25 minutes.

There were some hiccups along the way, but Lewis thinks those are fixable.

“We had some problems with parking, but this was our first year and we will have that problem solved next year when we do it again,” Lewis said.

Overall, she considers it a big win for the community.

“I told (interim city manager) Wayne McCasland that the only negative feedback we got was that we moved it (to Comanche Lake). People were upset because they like consistent things, they don’t like change,” Lewis said. “It’s a win because no one got hurt, no fires were started and no one got sick from the heat. So, we had everything in place the best we could with the little help we did have. For us to be able to do what we did and turn out the way it did, was a huge win.”

Not only does it give her the motivation to do it again, but also motivation to do other things.

“We can do other things in the community and be optimistic about it,” Lewis said. “If people see we are serious about it, we might get more help in the future.”

Numerous social media posts praised the Chamber of Commerce and Lewis for putting on the event.

“Thank you Laura, donors and the rest of the Chamber for putting on a great evening,” said one post on the Chamber of Commerce Facebook page. “The fireworks were beautiful reflecting off of the water. Thank you for all the hard work and working through all the hoops you’ve been shown.”