City of Chillicothe & Noontime Rotary Club Still Collecting Funds for July 4th Display

Article presented by Pickaway Ross CTC Adult Education

The City of Chillicothe Independence Day Fireworks display is next week and officials project an even bigger show than last year.

In February of 2022, a partnership was formed between the City of Chillicothe and Chillicothe’s Noontime Rotary Club to help build a bigger, better show. They raised more than $40,000 and those who attended the show got a lot of bang for their buck.

The cost of the materials for putting on a show has steadily outreached what the City would budget for over the years, which made putting a good display in the air even more difficult.

Mayor Luke Feeney explained on a Special Edition of #LitterMediaLIVE, the city budget has never appropriated more than $15,000 for the display and whatever the City raised from the community determined what the pyrotechnicians could muster.

“The City’s not really built for fundraising” said Feeney. The partnership with the Rotary Club extends an opportunity for the community to be more involved in the project. “The results last year, spoke for themselves. Noontime Rotary did just an incredible job fundraising. Not only fundraising, but bringing more energy to the Independence Day celebrations.”

Incoming Rotary President Bill Knoles got the fundraising ball running last year as a service project for the club. It’s nothing new to the Knoles family. Bill’s 91-year-old father, Buzz was chair of the Rotary’s fireworks project for the Country’s Bicentennial Fireworks display in 1976. Bill adds his brother Brian has been involved with shooting fireworks shows regularly for several years. “He’s been a fireworks junkie since he could walk, literally” said Knoles. “When Rotary was looking for a project, the fireworks kinda hit home.”

Brian Knoles is part of the Ohio Pyrotechnic Arts Guild, Inc., a non-profit organization of volunteers who have launch many of the shows in the region over the years, including the 2022 display in Yoctangee park. (See the video below)

“The partnership with the Rotary allows us to plan for the future, too” said Feeney. “The one thing I want to point out, we’re under contract for $50,000… last year was a $40,000 show. We’ve had some inflation, but it’s going to be $10,000 bigger than last year. We have a partnership that will last for years and if we exceed our $50,000 that we’re trying to raise this year, we can put it into the seed money for next year. That means we can grow, reach our potential and also do a lot of fun around fireworks, too.”

The City is also hosting another Chillicothe Community Day with inflatables, food trucks and family fun activities at Diamond 2 in Yoctangee Park SEE OUR INTERVIEW WITH OFFICER TIME BOLTENHOUSE from 2p-6p followed by a Pool Party for donors at the Donald M. Smith Memorial Pool.

Anyone wishing to make a contribution to the fireworks fund, make check payable to Chillicothe Rotary Foundation, P.O. Box 6357, Chillicothe, Ohio 45601.

Contributors of more than $1,000 as of the interview with Feeney and Knoles include: Chillicothe-Ross Community Foundation, The Scioto Society, Inc., Veterans of Foreign Wars, Pathways Family Credit Union, Kingston National Bank, Litter Corporation, Inc., Nourse Auto Group, YSK, Chillicothe VAMC, Petland, Homeland Credit Union and Adena Health System.