CONWAY — The fireworks for New Year's Eve are on for North Conway Village after all.
Just as the community came together to make the Conway Village tree lighting a go last Sunday, the same can be said about this year's New Year's Eve fireworks, which had been presented in past years by the North Conway Village Association and previously the Mount Washington Valley Preservation Association.
Changes in North Conway Village Association membership had imperiled this year's event, according to Mount Washington Valley Chamber of Commerce executive director Janice Crawford.
Crawford met with Conway selectmen Tuesday and then with North Conway Water Precinct commissioners Wednesday to address this year's New Year's Eve fireworks.
She was joined at Wednesday's meeting by chamber events coordinator Mary Seavey, who is a Conway selectman, and by former commissioner Sheila Duane who represented the North Conway Village Association, the latter of which serves as a subsect of the larger Mount Washington Valley Chamber.
Both the board of selectmen and North Conway Water Precinct commissioners made concessions to clear the way for the annual fireworks to happen.
At their meeting Tuesday, selectmen also agreed that there is a need to form a committee to work with Crawford to better plan, coordinate and fund community events and that they would task a representative of town staff to serve on that committee. Commissioners at Wednesday's meeting also agreed that such a committee would be helpful.
Business support cited
Crawford told both boards that local businesses have also stepped to the plate to make both the tree lighting in Conway last weekend and the fireworks possible, including The Conway Daily Sun and PainCare, the latter of which has agreed to pay for the entire $7,000 cost of the fireworks.
Crawford, Duane and Seavey said the North Conway Village Association has agreed to provide volunteers to help clean up debris in Schouler Park after the fireworks.
At both Tuesday and Wednesday's meetings, Crawford said the recent discussion about holiday events and the need for better coordination had brought the community together.
“If you have been reading the paper and checking Facebook and wherever else,” Crawford told commissioners, “you have seen a clear indication that the community has a dire need for community celebrations and traditions.”
She cited the following examples of those traditions:
* The Conway Village tree lighting.
* The Christmas parade in Conway (that was canceled this year due to a lack of planning).
* New Year's Eve fireworks in North Conway.
* Conway Village Christmas wreaths on utility poles.
* The placement of American flags in North Conway and Conway Village on utility poles.
* The Fourth of July parade in Conway and the festivities with fireworks in North Conway Village.
Town to sponsor fireworks
At Tuesday's selectmen's meeting, selectmen voted 5-0 to sponsor the fireworks event, thereby allowing the town to waive its $50 special events permit.
As a town-sponsored event, town manager Earl Sires said the town will carry the event's liability policy and will also work to get the state fire marshal permit.
Sires said he and recreation department director John Eastman have agreed to be at Schouler Park on behalf of the town on New Year's.
A private community proposal to explore bringing back the annual “Burning of the Green” to Schouler Park was tabled by selectmen for this year. They cited concerns about unwanted metal debris getting onto the grassy areas of the park, now that the North Conway Skating Club's ice rink has been moved onto the softball diamond where that burning formerly took place.
Conway events
Approximately 70 people on Dec. 3 attended Conway's tree lighting, which was presented by the Mount Washington Valley Skating Club prior to that group's well-attended “Holiday on Ice Show” at the Ham Ice Arena.
In the past, the Conway Village Christmas parade and tree lighting were handled by the Conway Village Area Chamber of Commerce, which disbanded in May.
The Mount Washington Valley Chamber now runs the Conway info booth, and paid $750 to treat the blight-damaged conifer used for the tree lighting.
Crawford said the Mount Washington Valley Chamber did not agree to take over Conway events when it agreed to manage the information booth there.
Recent events have demonstrated a need for the chamber, the town and the business community to work together, she said at both meetings this week.
Because the Conway chamber is defunct, selectmen voted 5-0 at Tuesday's selectmen meeting to serve as the entity to now work with Public Service of New Hampshire to enable the Mount Washington Valley Chamber to put up Christmas wreaths on PSNH utility poles.
“In the past, we worked with the Conway Village chamber in a similar way, because PSNH only lets municipalities to put wreaths on their poles for liability reasons. So, this is very similar,” said Sires after the meeting.
Precinct fee reduced
On Wednesday, North Conway Water Precinct commissioners voted 3-0 at their meeting to reduce the precinct's newly implemented special events fee from $1,800 for the fireworks to $100 to cover the cost of performing the fireworks equipment inspection.
Special events fees were implemented following public comment Sept. 1. The revenue from the fees goes directly to offset taxes, with fees determined by the number of fire department hours and equipment required for fireworks.
“We were hoping that we might be able to get a distinction between community celebrations, things that are for our taxpayers and residents,” said Crawford.
After listening to that reasoning about it being a community event, commissioners originally made a motion to reduce the $1,817 fee to $500 to cover the cost of manpower but not equipment.
Fellow commissioner Jim Umberger and chair Bob Porter agreed with commissioner John Santuccio to reduce those fees further, with Santuccio arguing that since the fees are new, the public may not yet be fully aware of them and that the fee could be waived for this year.
Fire chief Pat Preece noted that the hearing and public comment period for the fees were posted but agreed that the New Year's Eve fireworks was a community event. Rather than waive them entirely, Preece lobbied that commissioners keep the $100 fireworks equipment inspection fee in place. Ultimately, the board went that way.
Commissioners agreed with Preece that the waiver was not meant to be precedent setting.
They also voted 3-0 on Umberger's motion that they needed to revisit the issue by appointing a committee to differentiate between non-profits seeking to put on fireworks versus private groups and individuals.
Two fireworks displays for New Year's
Cranmore Mountain Resort is to present fireworks n New Year's at 6:30 p.m., with North Conway's now set for 9:30 p.m.
While commissioner Porter questioned whether Cranmore might also seek a waiver, Preece said those fireworks are private, and said they are also Class C fireworks, a lower level than the Class B fireworks anticipated for New Year's in the village at 9:30 p.m.
Class C fireworks require an inspection from the fire chief, but do not require fire protection the way Class B fireworks do, Preece said.
Additional volunteers for the upcoming New Year's effort may contact the Mount Washington Valley Chamber by calling 356-5701.
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