DELANO, Calif. (KERO) — Changes to Delano's annual firework show has left the community in an uproar now that the Kiwanis Club will not be able to participate this year to due a missed deadline for paperwork.
- The Delano Kiwanis club has been an avid firework seller every year in support of the city’s firework show. Its a booth thats well known to many but this year that site wont be available. The reasoning all comes down to paperwork.
- According to the Delano City Firework Ordinance, all permits and paperwork must be submitted by May 1 which is the same deadline every year.
The Kiwanis club failed to submit the paperwork on time, in turn, losing their booth to the next organization in line. - The city says this decision is not permanent and the Kiwanis club will be able to resubmit next year. With the Kiwanis club out of the picture, the city says they will be the ones to run this years firework show
Fireworks show or no fireworks show? That's the topic of conversation circling Delano after changes were made to who would be running the annual fireworks show.
The task is usually left up to the Kiwanis club but this year, the city will be running the annual show. So now... there might be more than one!
"Whoever is next in line to get a booth will get that booth. It's already written in the ordinance, the ordinance was written in the early 2000 and it was again updated in 2020,” said Council member Mario Nunez.
Nunez says it all comes down to paperwork, something that he says two organizations including the Kiwanis club failed to turn in on time.
The Kiwanis Club has been putting on the city's firework show for the past 18 years, Nunez says it's because there's been no issue with the club turning in their request for proposal paperwork, which allows Kiwanis to run the show.
The ordinance says Delano is only allowed to have eight booths operating. This includes two reserved spots for grandfathered organizations and one spot for the Request for Proposal (RFP). The remaining five spots are left for a lottery system.
"There were 11 non-profits that put in for the lottery, only five are going to get picked,” said Nunez. “You have until May 1st to submit all your permits that need to be submitted through the county and the city."
Nunez says because this ordinance is written into law, there is no wiggle room and once the deadline is missed, it's gone until the following year.
I reached out to Steve Kinsey, Secretary and Treasurer of the Kiwanis club and the Chairman of the Star Spangled Spectacular committee who didn't want to be on camera but did provide this statement.
"The Kiwanis Club of Delano will be hosting the Star Spangled Spectacular Fireworks Show & Family Fun Day on Tuesday, July 2nd.
Kiwanis has contracted again with Zambelli Fireworks Co. for the fireworks display. The Delano Chamber of Commerce will be partnering with us on the Family Fun Day to be held at Memorial Park.
We look forward to providing our community with a great Independence Day celebration, as we have for the past 18 years. We thank the community for supporting us for all of these years."
The city says this decision is not permanent and the Kiwanis club will be able to resubmit next year. With the Kiwanis Club out of the picture, the city says they will be the ones to run this year's fireworks show.
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