Lighting up the night
Laura Olson, a volunteer fireworks salesperson for the Crestview Christian School, points t the most popular selling fireworks package, "Phantom Unleashed." All proceeds of the fireworks stand in the parking lot on the corner of Stratford and Valley roads will go to playground equipment for the school. Olson said she expects business to really pick up by Friday.<br>Joseph Castro/Columbia Basin Herald
MOSES LAKE — The sky will be filled with bright and fiery lights, as the City of Moses Lake pays tribute to American Independence this Monday.
The city's parks and recreation department will kick off its annual free concert series with a night of patriotic and country music, starting at 8 p.m. at the McCosh Park Centennial Amphitheater. This year the night will be filled with the patriotic sounds of vocalist Elisha Mitchell and the country stylings of musician Michael Peterson. This will be a repeat Independence Day performance for Mitchell, who Moses Lake Parks and Recreation Director Spencer Grigg said sings in a style reminiscent of Whitney Houston.
"She's just got one of those voices that will give you goose bumps," Grigg said of MItchell's vocals.
Peterson is currently a recording artist in Nashville, but spent much of his youth in nearby Richland.
To help spread the patriotic sentiment, the city will hand out souvenir flags to the first 2,000 patrons at the amphitheater. A few lucky members of the audience will later aid in the celebration of America's Independence when a 30 by 44 foot flag as big as the stage itself is brought front and center prior to the show.
A night of music and patriotism will finish off with the city's annual fireworks display. The bright celebrants will begin to light up city skies as the musical performances conclude, when professional fireworks technicians light up the night from across the lake with more than $10,000 worth of fireworks. The fiery display has historically begun between 10 and 10:30 p.m.
The city began having its Independence Day celebrations at the amphitheater in 1991, but Grigg said launching fireworks from McCosh Park has been a long-standing tradition in Moses Lake.
"Fireworks have been traditional in McCosh Park there longer than I can remember," he said, adding that the park has always been a gathering place for the community.
But as professionals light up the sky, Grigg said fireworks will not be allowed by the general public in the park.
This year's show will also have special significance as organizers will honor the soldiers of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion 161st Infantry Regiment who returned from Iraq earlier this year.
"It should be another phenomenal fourth of July in Moses Lake," Grigg said.
The music and fireworks show is part of a number of happenings in city parks over the holiday weekend. Grigg said the Moses Lake men's softball association will take the field for a tournament over the weekend. The Moses Lake Business Association will draw one lucky winner during the Centennial Amphitheater show, who will drive away from the evening as the proud owner of a 1978 ragtop/hardtop MGB Roadster, part of raffle the association has organized.