ELLERBE — With Richmond County’s two major Independence Day fireworks displays being canceled or postponed due to differing circumstances, one local business is stepping up to finance a spectacle.
The Berry Patch will be sponsoring a fireworks event on July 4 just down the road from “The World’s Largest Strawberry.”
Owner Lee Berry said Monday that the plan has been in the works for several weeks — securing a location and permits and getting the landowner and Ellerbe Fire Department on board — before the announcement was made on social media.
“I’m really just doing it for the community,” he said. “I want kids to have something to look at.”
The Ellerbe Lions Club announced on its Facebook page June 4 that it was postponing its annual Jamboree due to state restrictions on mass gatherings. Last year’s event was postponed several days due to thunderstorms that rolled through on the national holiday.
Hamlet’s show was canceled this year because of budget constraints from the county’s change in the distribution of sales taxes.
Berry said he and wife Amy wanted to give back to the Richmond County community.
“We want to see it continue as a tradition and hopefully the Ellerbe Lions Club can pick it back up next year after the coronavirus is over,” Berry said.
The 20-30 minute show will be very similar to the one hosted each year by the Lions Club, he said.
The fireworks, which will be handled by the Ellerbe Fire Department — which has a firefighter licensed to set them off — will launch from a field on Haywood Cemetery Road, not far from the produce stand.
That field is elevated about 30 feet higher than the Berry Patch.
Berry said they should be visible from Green Lake Road, Cargo Road, McIntyre Road, Berry Patch Road, and possibly from Lee Thee Church Road.
The Berry Patch will be open for business that day, so Berry asks that those coming from the fireworks refrain from filling up the parking lot until after 8 p.m.
Ice cream will also be available after the show.
The Lions Club is planning a fall jamboree and hopes “to have the biggest fireworks show” in North Carolina.
