NEWBERRY — The Newberry County Sheriff’s Office invites the public to the 28th annual Fireworks Display at Mike Ware Field on the Newberry High School campus to enjoy various food vendors, blow-up rides, games, a DJ and a fireworks show to celebrate the Fourth of July with a bang.
Gates will open up at 6 p.m. Tuesday with the fireworks show scheduled for a tentative 9 p.m. shoot-off.
Sheriff Lee Foster said parking for the event will be available on the Newberry High School campus and any adjoining parking lots on school property, along with the old Sheriff’s Office location available for viewing.
“The vocational school is off limits to parking because it’s a fallout zone,” said Foster. “Most stores in the area allow their parking lot to be used to view as well. That’s what a lot of people do.”
The Fourth of July holiday is one of the busiest holidays of the year and Foster said that the Sheriff’s Department will be in full swing this holiday to ensure everyone stays safe.
“Since it is one of the busiest holidays with fireworks, it’s also a busy time on the lake. We’re going to have people out working the lake and we’ll have extra people out working the other festivities that are going on to be on the look out for drunk drivers,” said Foster.
To crack down on drunk drivers, Foster said there will be checkpoints along U.S. 176, Adelaide Street, the S.C. 34 Bypass, S.C. 121, Belfast Road and Macedonia Church Road.
“If you don’t do anything wrong, then you don’t have to worry,” said Foster.
Foster also said during the holiday, the Sheriff’s Office sees a significant number of noise complaints from the community of people shooting off fireworks. Foster stressed that the community uses good judgment when shooting off fireworks this year, avoiding shooting them off in your hands or at a person.
“Everyone needs to be safe and use their own fireworks. With the recent rains we’ve had, people need to be aware that fireworks can still set pine straw and leaves on fire and it’s best to avoid dry areas.,” said Foster.
In addition to the event from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., the Sheriff’s Office will be going around accepting donations, which will go toward helping the department put on the fireworks show for the community each year.
“If anyone is interested in donating so that we can have a bigger and better fireworks display, they certainly can drop by here at the Sheriff’s Office and leave it with Robert Dennis and we’ll try to add to the show as much as we can,” said Foster.