By Sue Long

Fortuna Fireworks Festival Fortuna celebrated the 4th of July holiday on the 3rd with a festival in Newburg Park. There were several free activities for the children including face painting by the Fortuna Middle School Students, balloon artist, Matt in the Hat, North Coast Adventures' rock climbing wall, bounce houses and other inflatables from the Party Place, a gymnastics demonstration and a bounce house from HealthSport in Fortuna, old fashioned gunny sack races, a mini-muster by the Fortuna Volunteer Fire Department, and an apple pie eating contest.

Mike Gibbs provided patriotic music from his newest CD throughout the evening. There were over 700 kids participating in the events! Supply our Students (SOS) provided a great barbecue and kept everyone full of burgers, hot dogs, and snacks making a profit of over $5,000 which will be spent on school supplies for the students in Fortuna and the Eel River Valley area. HOPS in Humboldt provided $5,000 for the actual fireworks show, which was awesome! Everyone had a great time, which would not have been possible without the community sponsors who stepped up to ensure that the activities would be free of charge. A huge thank you to the following:

AM Baird Engineering & Surveying, Beacom Construction, Bob's Footlongs, Coldwell Banker-Debi August, Cornerstone Realty, Don Brown's State Farm Insurance, Eel River Disposal, Eel River Hydroponics, Eureka Ready Mix, Forbusco Lumber, Fortuna Family Medical Group, Fortuna Glass & Paint, Fortuna Motors, Fortuna Music Mart, Fortuna Optometry, Goble's Mortuary, Green's Pharmacy, Harbers Insurance (The Shaw Group), Horizon Business Products, George and Sylvia Jutila, Les Schwab Tires, Low's Furniture, LPL Financial, Chester and Kathy King, Mercer Fraser, Redwood Capital Bank, Glenn and Delores Reeves, Ross Insurance & Financial Services, Scotty's Cutters Edge, Sequoia Gas, Oroville and Joanne Smith, Strehl's Family Shoes, Wyckoff's Plumbing.

The following service groups also contributed: Sunrise Rotary and Fortuna Kiwanas.

The committee consisting of Tina Taylor and Jason “Woody” Woodward (HOPS in Humboldt), Dianna Crow (FBID), Ken Zanzi (Fortuna Rotary), Elan Puno (SOS), Sue Long and Dennis Wendt (Wendt Construction) worked closely with the City of Fortuna staff to ensure the success of this event. Cheryl Nicholson handled permitting and insurance, while John Crotty and his parks staff worked tirelessly to prepare the park, provide power, and was one of the last to leave after helping with clean up. Wendt Construction hung the sponsor banners, provided the “stage,” light towers, tools, and technical assistance during set up.

Dennis was able to get his annual “pyro” fix by assisting PyroSpectaculars in launching the fireworks. Marilyn Mora generously allowed parking in the field adjoining the park. Chief Kris Kitna and Matt Eberhardt from the Fortuna Police Department arranged traffic control. The California Conservation Corps provided approximately 20 members to help with parking, running the activities, and clean up at the end.

These young people were enthusiastic and very helpful filling in the gaps as needed. Fortuna Rotary and FBID provided insurance for the event. Even kids helped! Lexie Lewis and Katrina Senestraro distributed posters to businesses for display. The Fortuna Fireworks Festival committee is looking forward to next year's event and hoping it will be even better. If you have comments or suggestions, please send them to PO Box 491, Fortuna, CA.