Mokena Board Approves $30K Expenditure For July Fireworks Show

MOKENA, IL — Mokena residents will have the chance to celebrate the July 4 holiday in traditional fireworks fashion this summer even if the aerial celebration that will light up the night skies won’t take place on Independence Day itself.

Village board members on Monday night approved a $30,000 expenditure to allow Mad Bomber to put on a fireworks show on July 2, village officials said. The village’s historical contract provider for fireworks, Pyrotecnico, is unable to conduct a fireworks display on July 4, which left village officials scrambling to find a new provider.

At its February 13 work session, the board voted to select Mad Bomber as the vendor to conduct a fireworks display for $30,000, which is $1,500 more than the village spent last year, according to Greg Anderson, the village’s assistant administrator.

Mad Bomber, which is based in Crown Point, Ind., was the only fireworks company to reply to the village’s request for bids to keep the fireworks celebration on July 4. However, the company said the show on the actual holiday would cost $50,000, which left village officials leery about trying to keep an Independence Day celebration in place.

Mokena Park District executive director Greg Vitale said at the work session meeting in February that coming up with the $50,000 — even with corporate sponsors — could be tough.

“Paying double is a tough pill to swallow for a 20-minute show,” Vitale said at the meeting, according to The Daily Southtown. “We’re going to try to make this work as much as we can within reason.

Anderson said that now that the village has a contract for the fireworks show, event planning – including lining up live music — will start as the village prepares for the summer holiday celebration.