Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - The Fourth of July is upon us, and many people across Western New York are eagerly awaiting the celebrations set for the extended weekend.
While some people will be throwing their own festivities or parties this coming weekend, others will look to take advantage of a number of events taking place in their local community. This may include some fun activities for all ages, parades, and also the highly anticipated fireworks show.
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The Town of Cheektowaga is among the Western New York communities gearing up for another fun-filled Fourth of July Weekend.
"Right around the Fourth of July, the Town of Cheektowaga holds a festival on the 3rd, the evening before, and we do a parade on the 4th, and we're going to be doing the same this year," said Town Supervisor Brian Nowak in an interview with WBEN. "This coming Thursday on July 3, we're going to have an event in our town park with food trucks, live music, fun for all ages, and then we're going to have fireworks as the sun goes down. And on Friday the 4th, we're going to have our parade, it kicks off at noon on Harlem Road and ends in Cheektowaga Town Park."
For the folks familiar with the parade through town, this year's event is going to be a bit different with the event beginning on Harlem Road near the Thruway Plaza entrance all the way to the Cheektowaga Town Park entrance.
While a supply of fireworks for the town is not much of a concern, tariffs were certainly a discussion of potential concern with the prices and supply of fireworks this year.
"With internal conversations, we were advised that were looking at a significant increase because of the tariffs with fireworks. That ended up not being the case, because the tariffs have been haphazardly wax on, wax off. There's really no coherent plan from the Trump administration on tariffs or much of anything else. So no, that didn't hit our fireworks prices."
Over the years, the Twin Cities in Tonawanda have combined forces on a number of events for residents on both sides of the Erie Canal to enjoy. That is, once again, set to be the case with Fourth of July festivities.
"We're going to be doing this on the Renaissance Bridge on Friday the 4th, and that is our Webster Street in North Tonawanda and the bridge that connects to Tonawanda's Main Street," said North Tonawanda Mayor Austin Tylec with WBEN. "We've had fireworks on the bridge many times before, whether it's for Canal Fest, Fourth of July, New Year's and so on. But this year, it's a little more special, because we're going to be incorporating a lot of family activities prior to the fireworks. So around 5 o'clock, we're going to have face painting, balloon artists, portable rock wall, hot dogs for kids, informational booths, inflatable fun, as I'm told, and a lot of activities and games. And that's thanks to our NT Parks Department."
Last year, the cities of Tonawanda and North Tonawanda combined to put together one giant fireworks show for folks from all across the region to enjoy.
"Fireworks aren't cheap, and [Mayor] John White and I, we have made a point of it since we've been in office to not spend $20,000, $20,000 on both sides of tax dollars. So the fireworks show that we're putting on is a combined around $20,000, and really it wouldn't possible without the awesome businesses that sponsor it," Tylec said. "Mayor White and I, we work really hard to get companies, businesses involved, and they're happy to do it, bring people into our downtown area. So this year, it's going to be bigger and better. We're going to have more activities. There's going to be music on the Tonawanda side."
When it comes to the tariffs issue, Tylec admits there was a slight increase in cost, especially with getting the materials to do the fireworks. Despite that, Tylec is always appreciative of the partnership both cities have with a company like Skylighters of WNY.
"They've been really reasonable with their prices. They make sure the entire campus is safe too," he said. "There's a lot of regulations that goes into this, whether it's because we need a certain fallout zone - the bigger size firework that you have, the larger radius you have to create where no one can get in. And then we also have boats in the water that we have to make sure they're not by the site as well. So we're going to be working with our local police and fire departments and their boats to make sure that everyone stays safe. So it's a safe, fun event this year, and we're excited for it."
It will be a busy Fourth of July weekend for Skylighters of WNY, as they are set to produce 70 shows locally in just a few nights. No matter the preparation that needs to be done, Matt Shaw and his team have been working on these shows since the beginning of the year.
"It's always crunch time weeks leading up to the holiday, between all the municipality work we're doing, all the private events," said Shaw, owner of Skylighters of WNY. "Obviously a lot of logistics that go on there, we're always watching for weather. There's always a set of challenges, a lot of challenges with the current situation with all the tariffs and shipping. But we are prepared. We're putting on awesome fireworks shows for everybody this holiday season. Really excited. It's our favorite time of the year."
Each show that Shaw and his team come up with is custom designed, and based on the needs and wants of their customers.
"From how active of a show it is, if it's choreographed to music, the length of shows, we're always working on the latest and greatest fireworks," Shaw said with WBEN. "We do spend a lot of time with the factories creating new items, new effects. The colors are brighter and stronger than ever before. We have a lot of involvement with it, with the factories also."
Shaw is always buying fireworks on a year-round basis. With 99% of all professional grade fireworks coming from overseas, it was key for Shaw to buy in advance before tariffs kicked in.
"We did delay shipments so we didn't pay that 147%, but we did take a bunch of product in at that 32.4%. We are hopeful that this administration will recognize that fireworks solely come from China, and we get on that exemption list. We have not had any luck yet with the current administration," Shaw noted. "Back in 2019, we did get on that exemption list, so we're really, really hopeful, especially with our 250th anniversary of our country next year. A lot of municipalities, a lot of our customers are talking about doubling the budgets with this huge celebration, and hopefully we can get these tariffs at bay before we have to bring that product in."
And with the way Skylighters buys every type of firework out there, there is not much of a fear for Shaw that his inventory will reach concerningly low levels.
"Every size, color effect, and we do it all year where we're bringing products. So we are fully stocked. We're ready to produce these fireworks shows throughout the whole entire summer here and right through New Year's actually," he said. "We were able to soften some of those blows with the tariffs, because of the inventory that we had, plus what we were paying those higher tariffs on. Hopefully things level off and we come to some kind of agreement so we don't have to purchase those fireworks at a higher price because of those tariffs."