VFW to host New Year's Eve fireworks show
Just as they’ve done for the past five years, Holton’s Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1367 is getting ready to blast its way into the new year, and everybody’s invited to join the fun.
The VFW post will host its sixth-annual New Year’s Eve fireworks show starting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 31 at Banner Creek Reservoir, where post member Tim Reino said a fireworks display lasting 40 to 45 minutes is planned.
“Every year is different,” Reino said. “We try to add more to it every year, but as far as fountains and things like that, it’s certainly going to be different from last year. It’s a mixture of everything, basically.”
One thing that’s different with this year’s display is that local radio station KNZA 103.9 will provide a program of patriotic songs, such as the national anthem and “God Bless The U.S.A.,” and New Year’s Eve-themed songs, such as “Auld Lang Syne,” for those who drive out to the reservoir to watch the display.
“We thought that would give it a little boost,” Reino said of the radio station’s contribution to the display. “We tried to pipe it in one time at the boat dock by ourselves, but that didn’t work at all.”
There is no charge for those who come out to the reservoir for the display, but free-will donations will be accepted at the reservoir’s north gate, which will open at 5:30 p.m. The cost of the display is covered by Independence Day fireworks sales conducted by the post, and Reino said it’s the larger displays from those sales that make up the New Year’s Eve show.
“We pull them out from the fireworks that we get to sell every year,” he said. “I’d say there’s probably 60 pieces we’ll be using this year. I’ve never counted them before, but there’s a bunch.”
The post has been presenting the fireworks display since 2019 as a public service, Reino added.
“It’s something that we look at as paying back the community, doing something nice for the people who support us,” he said. “That’s the reason we started it. The VFW’s always looking at ways to give back to the community.”
