Jaycees' firework stand open

Alice Campbell Havre Daily News [email protected]

The night fireworks display put on by the Havre Jaycees should go off with a bang again this year. "The kids always look forward to the night display," Amanda Laeupple, Havre Jaycees president, said, adding that she hopes people come out to see the show at the Great Northern Fairgrounds the night of July 4 that the club has been putting on for more then 20 years. But the breadth of next year's show is still uncertain. With more and more fireworks booths and competition for sales, club members are wor r ied about how much money they'll have to purchase fireworks next year, Laeupple said. "Every penny counts," she said about putting on the show, the only public one in Havre. Each year, the club gives Jason Murri, who designs and detonates the show, a budget, and then they "hope and pray that our sales will support that," Laeupple said, adding that the more fireworks sold from their b o o t h i n t h e Ho l i d ay Village Shopping Mall's parking lot , the bigger the show for the next year. Local businesses make "a significant amount" of donations every year to the show and club members earned $300 from a project earlier this spring wh e n t h ey wo r ke d a t McDonalds for an evening. The rest of the funds come from the fireworks sales. Opened Wednesday, the red booth in the mall parking lot offers various fireworks for sale including cakes, smoke bombs, poppers, 20- inch sparklers, fami ly packs and night display packs. A launch control pad is being sold For the first time this year. The pad allows for the creation of a personal night show that can be set off with a remote control. "We have everything," Laeupple said. The booth is open weekdays from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday from noon to 10 p.m. and July 3-4 from 9 a.m. to "whenever, " she added. "We close after everyone else closes" each night, she said. Donat ion cans for cash doanations also will be at the booth and during the picnic at Pepin Park July 4. For more information, contact Laeupple at 945-3417.